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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28323954">In a million</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanHersheel/pseuds/DeanHersheel'>DeanHersheel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Alien Quadrilogy (Movies), Alien Series, Alien vs Predator (2004), Predator Original Series (1987-1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action &amp; Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Future smut hahaha jk… unless, Gore, sometimes long chapters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:20:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,268</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28323954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanHersheel/pseuds/DeanHersheel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the horrors that Alexa Woods lived in that icy place, she decided to take charge of her life and get away from the ice forever, this unexpectedly made her path cross again with Scar... And meanwhile 3 other hunters had already decided her fate. AU.<br/>-Update every week-</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dwayne Hicks/Ellen Ripley, Scar/Alexa Woods, Yautja (Predator)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The party</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! I'm Dean :)<br/>I have just decided to publish this story, it is my first fanfic on this platform, although it is not the first story I write :)</p><p>I want to thank an incredible person: Frida521, for her magnificent help in correcting my fanfic, without her this would be a lot more complicated.</p><p>I'm sorry for the horrible English, I hope it's understandable for you. I wrote this story first in Spanish but I also wanted to do it in English.<br/>I am sorry for any mistakes I may have done and I would appreciate your comments.</p><p>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them, this fanfic is just for fun.</p><p>Disclaimer 2:<br/>In this fanfic I'm going to include some OCs.</p><p>Disclaimer 3:<br/>The events of this fanfic take place 4 years after the fight against the xenomorphs that took place in Bouvetoya, Antarctica.</p><p>Disclaimer 4:<br/>The conversations between the predators will be written in italics, which mean that they are not in English, and humans cannot understand them. Their thoughts will be written between: 《》</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>“How long are you going to stay?” Amber asked, she was slightly taller than Alexa and her lips were fuller. She raised her voice a little more when she noticed that her sister was still immersed in her own thoughts “Lex!” She exclaimed.</p>
<p>“What?” Alexa asked, while she looked out the passenger window.</p>
<p>“You're very distracted” Her sister concluded.</p>
<p>“I was just thinking”, said Alexa, turning her head towards her sister and smiling.</p>
<p>“Can you tell me about whom?” Amber looked away from the front for a moment to give her little sister a mischievous look.</p>
<p>Alexa shook her head, she was thinking of him, why was she still thinking of him? So many years had passed, and yet she still had his face in mind? His… dreadlocks? He had saved her life when that horrible and huge monster had attacked her in the water tower, giving a miraculous leap and piercing the skin of the horrible Queen Alien. Scar —as she had nicknamed him for being unable to interpret what she supposed was his voice— click and growled when she asked his name, he had been her hero and then he was impaled in a cruel way. Alexa felt guilty, if only the plan to hold the Queen the first time in the tower had worked, the poor predator would not have died.</p>
<p>《Dead…》 thought Alexa. No, Scar was still alive when the other members of his clan brought him inside their ship, brutally wounded, but alive. Alexa scolded herself; it was absurd to worry about an alien she had just met, who was also a murderer.</p>
<p>“Alexa!” Amber shouted.</p>
<p>“I'm sorry”, the brunette apologized, she felt bad for ignoring her sister, it was not her intention but she couldn't focus on anything else.</p>
<p>"Lex, sometimes I think you're not the same anymore," Amber dared herself to say.</p>
<p>"I'm the same, I haven't changed," Lex said.</p>
<p>“Since you returned from the mission to that Island in the middle of nowhere, I have noticed you are very different; you are no longer the same Lex. You're distracted, you have doubts about everything and you don't focus on anything”. Amber stopped for a moment at the side of the road, Lex knew she had changed but she had no idea how much.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t make any sense” said Alexa.</p>
<p>“And why do you have that mark on your left cheek? You never mentioned it”.</p>
<p>“Amber, I don't want to talk about it”, Lex complained, running a hand over her forehead.</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>"Because it's absurd, I'm fine. This mark was just an accident with a blade, it doesn't mean anything”. Alexa hated lies, but there was no other option, how to explain to her sister everything that had happened? Even she didn't understand it! The only thing that was known of the failed expedition is that there was an explosion by some kind of device inside the pyramid and that Alexa had been the only survivor, she had not even mentioned the fearsome black aliens or predators. There was no trace of them and she would probably have been locked up in a madhouse if it occurred to her to mention them. She had no evidence other than the ceremonial spear she had been in charge of hiding.</p>
<p>Amber started the car and kept driving. “You worry me, Lex”.</p>
<p>“I'm fine, I promise. It's just that going through everything that happened in the pyramid left me somewhat unbalanced”. Lex decided to use the word <em>unbalanced</em>, because she refused to admit she was traumatized.</p>
<p>“I understand and don't worry, I'm not going to burden you with any more questions. Today will be a special night, the children will go trick or treating and we can stay home to watch movies, just like before”.</p>
<p>Alexa had temporarily moved with her older sister, she wanted to take a vacation and Florida turned out to be an excellent option, there was no cold, there was no ice and the memories of Antarctica seemed more distant in a place like this. Amber lived alone with her two children; a 7 year old girl named Emma and a 10 year old boy named Daniel. Today was October 31st, a date that for all the children meant going out into the streets and asking for candies, but for the two women it meant relaxing in peace. They got out of the car all the bags full of pantry and a bottle of wine and some beers.</p>
<p>It was 6:00 in the afternoon and the children had already prepared their costumes, Daniel opened the door and helped with some bags, Emma continued in her room, getting ready.</p>
<p>Lex thought she liked the comfort and homey vibe of her sister's one story house; the walls were yellow, the wooden window frames were white, and the curtains were pink; any designer would think those colors looked awful combined, but Amber always made everything look nice. Lex carried the bags into the kitchen and set them on a round table and brown.</p>
<p>“Auntie Lex! Guess what I am!” Daniel exclaimed, waiting for Lex to cheer her costume.</p>
<p>Lex looked at the boy, she could barely understand what he was saying. He had messy hair like he had just woken up and big black circles under his eyes, a gray suit, a long red cape and prominent fangs “A fearsome vampire” Lex said with a smile.</p>
<p>Daniel took off his uncomfortable false teeth and hugged his aunt “I… can hardly speak with this” Daniel complained.</p>
<p>“Well, take them off”, said Lex and ruffled his hair, then went to put away the purchases.</p>
<p>“No, a vampire has to have big fangs” Daniel said.</p>
<p>“Look Aunt Lex! I’m you!” Emma said, Lex almost choked on her own spit. Emma had disguised herself as her, and she had even put the mark on her left cheek! Her hair was also pulled back with a parting on the head and in a half bun and she was wearing a red sweater.</p>
<p>“Emma...” Seeing the girl brought to mind all those memories she wanted to bury “Why didn't you choose someone else?</p>
<p>“Because I want to be like you”, Emma said, very sure of herself.</p>
<p>Lex smiled, she was just being paranoid, there was no way she would ever see Scar again and the probability that he would see his beloved niece with the hunter’s mark was even lower.</p>
<p>The kids went out an hour later; Lex and Amber were watching a movie and eating popcorn and some beers. The neighborhood Amber lived in was quiet and pleasant, the neighbors were friendly, and nothing remotely exciting ever happened. Lex imagined herself living in a place like this, without worries, just enjoying normality and suddenly her sight was lost on the television screen, they were watching a movie called The Fifth Element, but she had stopped seeing the characters. She could stay and live here, rent an apartment, and perhaps eventually buy a house. That idea seemed as great as it was boring ... the monotony of things would end her and she would return to extreme sports. 《What do you want, Lex?》 She wondered.</p>
<p>Her sister tapped her elbow on the side and she jumped a little, with Amber's inquisitive gaze searching for an answer to a question Lex hadn't heard. Lex thought it would be rude not to answer and just nodded.</p>
<p>“Well, it looks gross to me”, Amber said.</p>
<p>“What thing? “ Lex questioned.</p>
<p>“The cop falls for the girl, but the girl is an alien, she's disgusting”, Amber concluded.</p>
<p>“And..?”</p>
<p>“Lex, I asked you if you would dare to date an alien and you just nodded”.</p>
<p>Alexa took a sip from the glass of wine, that question only made sense in a conversation like that, but for Lex the implication of that was a lot deeper. She couldn't help but think of Scar, in his strange and intriguing appearance, would she date him? She took another gulp of her drink, it was crazy.</p>
<p>Emma returned to the house and walked into the living room, where the two women were chatting.</p>
<p>“Auntie Lex, can I borrow some wool gloves?” Emma questioned, luckily for Lex, the conversation with her sister paused when Emma arrived.</p>
<p>“Oh sweetpea, I didn’t pack any items for the cold,” Lex said and popped a bunch of popcorn into her mouth.</p>
<p>“Okay ...” Emma muttered with resignation, Lex turned on the comfortable couch.</p>
<p>“I have a hat that my dad gave me, you can take it, it's in the right bag of my suitcase but take good care of it” Lex winked at the little girl.</p>
<p>Emma happily walked to Alexa's room and rummaged through her things until she found the hat, however, something else caught her eye. "Auntie Lex, can I take the stick you have here?" Emma asked from the room. Lex had brought some removable hooks to hang her clothes and thought there was no problem.</p>
<p>“Sure!” Lex exclaimed from the living room.</p>
<p>Emma held the ceremonial spear with difficulty, it was very heavy but also very cool, Emma thought that that was the final ingredient of her costume and with both hands she held the spear and supported it on her chest, then she left the house.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, some children were amazed and terrified to admire the incredible and highly realistic decoration of a man hanging by his feet from a tree, skinless and dripping with blood.</p>
<p>“These people are crazy”, said a blond boy, disguised as Captain America.</p>
<p>“Yes, these mannequins are very well made”, said another boy, his costume consisting of a soldier's outfit and a plastic weapon.</p>
<p>The child on the soldier costume observed three red points that represented the vertices of a triangle, they were on his forearm, and he looked up and saw that the light of the lamp on a pole was reflected on a large and transparent silhouette that remained motionless on the roof of a house. The boy raised his gun.</p>
<p>The predator watched the boy carefully, was this perhaps a worthy opponent? The answer was NO. His biomask face detected that the weapon was fake and he couldn’t feel more frustrated, he had just managed to hunt down that petty thief who he had hung upside down and now he found a lot of small creatures that carried fake weapons as if they were toys, he opted for backing out.</p>
<p><em>“What kind of ceremony is this?”</em> Wondered the predator. Scar paid no attention to him and this only angered the young blood. <em>“Scar..?” </em>He insisted.</p>
<p><em>“Stop asking nonsense,”</em> Scar growled, since he met Lex he decided to adopt his nickname as his formal name, as a sign of respect for the small human, who had saved his life. And now he had been left in the charge of a Yautja who had just passed his rite of maturity, and like every precocious adolescent, he wanted to devour the world and prove himself capable of facing any honorable prey. Scar could be seen reflected in Lake, that murderous and unbridled instinct that characterized the younger Yautja always seemed both interesting and stupid to him, that same impetus had caused the death of his two brothers: Celtic and Chopper, if only they had been smarter, they would be alive. Scar shook his head and saw that Lake was sitting on a pile of broken pipes, they had hidden in an old and abandoned hardware store, because humans used to flee the shadows and that place was far enough away to be visited.</p>
<p><em>“What's the plan?”</em> Lake inquired.</p>
<p><em>“A group of armed humans are staying in a house not far from here. We will wait for them to arrive and then, we will hunt them, there are at least about 15 of them</em>” Scar said, Lake's bright green eyes sparkled.</p>
<p>When the humans altered the balance of the pyramid and all the black beasts came out, the predators decided to move the rite of passage to another planet where they established tighter control. Lake, like Scar, had been the only survivor and that was about the only thing he had in common with him, Lake was impatient and couldn’t control his temperament very well, Scar had always been a strategist.</p>
<p>Lake's skin was a little darker than Scar’s and he also wore the hunter mark on his forehead, perhaps a little further to the left, his biomask had a kind of point on the part that covered his jaws, as if it were the beak of a bird and his eyes were longer. Lake admired Scar in a certain way, he knew that he could learn from him, on the other hand Scar regretted the decision that the ancients had made to make him pay for their disgrace by working with an annoying partner. Or at least that's how he saw things.</p>
<p>The disgrace was to have allowed a face hugger to desecrate his body; the ancients praised Scar's prowess, he was the first young blood to assassinate a queen in many years of the Yautja history, but his carelessness had brought him punishment. Scar was about to exhaust his last remaining reserves of patience in dealing with Lake, but killing him would only give him a worse punishment.</p>
<p>Both predators followed the humans, but soon Scar realized that they were just weak humans, they brought weapons, yes, but he was sure that neither of them would be a worthy fighter, at least for him. Lake seemed excited and Scar decided that he would "let" him finish off such pitiful prey.</p>
<p>He left the house and went to the city, his walk brought him to a certain neighborhood where some children looked at a corpse hanging in a tree. This made him angry, why did Lake have to be so stupid and reckless? He had left a corpse for all to see and now the humans would investigate.</p>
<p><em>“Well, that might get me a good trophy</em>”, he said. There was the remote possibility that among all those police officers a worthy opponent would stand out. He wore his camouflage at all times and, unlike Lake, he was wary of the lantern lights.</p>
<p>“I don't want to see that thing anymore” Said a little girl with brown skin. Scar could be stealthy, he could be by your side and you would never notice, he walked to the girl, something about her was familiar and looked at the black hair, the hat, the sweater and the brand on her cheek, <em>his</em> brand.</p>
<p>“Lex”, he murmured, there was no doubt, it was her, but he also was confused, had she shrunk? She still had the ceremonial spear on her hands.</p>
<p>He watched as a taller boy took the spear from her and ran away with it, laughing and yelling, while the little Lex cried “Give it to me!” The girl screamed, they both ran across the street, away from the other children.</p>
<p>Scar thought that this was an unforgivable offense and followed the children, the girl managed to reach the boy who was dressed as if he were a mummy and pushed him hard. Scar watched attentively, the boy returned the blow, it was obvious that his strength was superior to the small Lex's and that is enough for him, he removed the camouflage that hid his great figure and took the boy by his neck, lifting him in the air. Emma screamed, first because of the surprise and then because she thought that the hateful boy would die.</p>
<p>The boy dropped the spear and began to cry, Scar inspected him, he was not a worthy opponent, unfortunately, he was just a crying baby and he dropped him to the ground. The boy ran in terror and the girl stayed next to the hunter, the girl's tears had erased a part of the mark on her cheek, she picked up the spear from the ground and then looked at Scar, took out a chocolate from her basket of sweets and stood up, offering it.</p>
<p>“Thank you” she said.</p>
<p>“Lex?” Scar asked. His voice sounding worse than he imagined, an horrible English that sounded more like a low growl than a clear word.</p>
<p>“I'm Emma, Lex is my auntie”, exclaimed the girl, she looked tiny in comparison. Scar leaned over to her.</p>
<p>“Is Lex here?”</p>
<p>Emma nodded. “Take the chocolate”, she insisted.</p>
<p>Scar took it, though he wasn't sure what the hell was going on, he inspected the bar with the lenses of his biomask, it looked like an edible object.</p>
<p>“For you”, Emma said. Scar thought that maybe that was the way to thank for humans. The Yautja offered weapons, the humans offered candy bars.</p>
<p>Scar left, if Lex was here, he had to see her again.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Reunion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! I'm Dean :)<br/>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them; this fanfic is just for fun.<br/>Thanks again to Frida521 for her help in this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>When the movie ended, Amber went out to look for the children, Lex almost spit the wine out of her mouth when her sister appeared with the spear.</p>
<p>“Lex, what the hell is this?” Emma had pressed a button on the spear and it had extended, luckily she didn't cut her fingers or hurt someone.</p>
<p>“HOW DID YOU GET THAT?” Lex turned to Emma and took the spear out of the hands of her sister.</p>
<p>“What is that? What is that weapon doing among your things!? Emma could have gotten hurt!”</p>
<p>“It's a souvenir from an expedition” Lex explained in a calm tone, pressing the button on the spear again to retract it.</p>
<p>“That thing isn't a souvenir, I'm not stupid” Amber hissed, sounding upset.</p>
<p>Lex knew it was a risk to bring the spear, but she had a slight suspicion that Weyland Industries was snooping around her home and she couldn't let anyone find it.</p>
<p>“The spear belonged to a Brazilian tribe… they gave it to me as a sign of respect for helping them hunt a… black boar” Lex said, deliberately modifying the story, and Amber narrowed her eyes, as if that would help her understand.</p>
<p>“And why are you bringing it here?”</p>
<p>“I wanted to sell it, but I think it's too dangerous, sorry” Lex apologized.</p>
<p>Amber rubbed her temples. “Okay Lex, it’s okay…”</p>
<p>“A gladiator with dreadlocks rescued me” Emma exclaimed suddenly.</p>
<p>“All the way here she's been talking about a man who rescued her from a bullying boy” Amber said, setting her carry-on bag on a couch and walking into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and pouring herself some fresh water from the freezer.</p>
<p>“My sister is crazy”, Daniel scoffed.</p>
<p>Lex felt like she was out of breath, she waited for Daniel to leave the room and approached Emma “What was he exactly like?”</p>
<p>The little girl remembered her savior. “He was huge and muscular and had a metal mask” Emma described, raising her hands to express how big the man was.</p>
<hr/>
<p>That night when everyone fell asleep, Alexa went outside. She didn't think much about it, she just walked out. She remembered the young Yautja, his determination, his monstrous strength and his protective attitude had impressed her, she wondered if he was nervous during his test of maturity, he was just a teenager after all... huge and bestial, but young.</p>
<p>Scar had shown her his respect by giving her the hunter mark of his clan and she had felt deeply saddened when the Queen Alien hurt him. Suddenly, the thought that maybe that man was not her Scar occurred to her 《And what if he is another predator?》She wondered. At the end of the street she saw a lot of cops that had cordon off an area around a tree, she could see a pool of blood and what apparently was a <em>man</em>. There was no doubt in her mind that the predators had caused such an act, Lex backed away slowly and returned to the house, why did she feel sympathy for someone who was capable of such brutality? Her stomach was queasy and she regretted leaving.</p>
<p>She got to her room, lying down on her bed, although it was difficult for her, she managed to sleep until a knock on her window caught her attention and she hastened to look at the window.</p>
<p>“My God!” Exclaimed the brunette, she opened the glass pushing it up and looked at the figure “Is that you, Scar?” Her heart accelerated from 0 to 100 in an instant, she could not believe what her eyes saw.</p>
<p>He nodded. She looked him up and down, it was real, he was in front of her, and it was not a dream! For brief moments she forgot about the man in the tree, she forgot her relatives and everything else, she simply stood admiring the majesty of the warrior.</p>
<p>“Lex, it's been a while,” Scar said.</p>
<p>Lex was amazed because he had spoken to her in her language, she tried to regain her composure and cleared her throat “Yeah, I guess” She couldn't get out of her shocked state, she never thought to see him again, it was so surreal. “How do you speak my language?”</p>
<p>“I learned English from some old members of the clan,” Scar explained.</p>
<p>The brunette smiled, the Scar’s English sounded awful, but understandable. “And what have you come for?”</p>
<p>“I've come to see you,” Scar said, Lex felt touched. Then, a little calmer, she remembered the horrible scene of the man in the tree and frowned.</p>
<p>While Scar wanted to see her, his visit to Earth was not for her.</p>
<p>“You came to hunt, I saw a dead man ... was it you who ...?”</p>
<p>“I didn't do that, it was another Yautja,” Scar said, Lex felt relieved that he wasn't the cause of such an aberrational act. He was capable of that too, but for the moment she preferred not to think about it.</p>
<p>She knew the window was too small for him to come in, so she tied her hair up and went out to the garden. The first impression she had on seeing him after four long years was that Scar looked even more imposing than before and that he also looked different, a little thinner, slightly taller and his armor, although it was almost the same as the one he had worn in the pyramid, let see a little more of his exotic skin, on the part of his sides and his thighs. His dreadlocks were longer and his muscles more pronounced.</p>
<p>The warrior looked at Lex, and with her small red shorts above her knees and a black tank top covering her body, he soon found himself looking at her chest. He suddenly remembered the Yautja females of their planet, their bodies were solid as rocks and their chests small and defined. Lex's skin seemed to be almost soft and delicate and her breasts round and big. At the time, he had remembered her on the ice with so many layers of clothes and now she was only wearing those light fabrics, he felt overwhelmed and intrigued.</p>
<p>“My eyes are up,” Lex said, the warrior feeling sorry. So many days he had been thinking about what to say if one day he saw her again and all he was doing now was keep watching her breasts, any Yautja female would have given him at least a few blows, but Lex only looked at him with a tender smile. Scar thought that Lex was making fun of him, he felt weak, as if he were a teenager again, and now surely the human thought that he was despicable and not an honorable being.</p>
<p>Lex thought that Scar had never seen her without so many clothes and that maybe he was just curious about her body. “Sorry,” Scar apologized.</p>
<p>Somehow Lex felt that Scar had an internal war with himself and she decided to intervene “Don't worry about it, I'm just kidding” she said.</p>
<p>“Lex ... I,” he stopped, what was he supposed to say? Nothing came to his mind; it was as if he had forgotten all the English he had learned.</p>
<p>“Yes…?” Lex encouraged him to continue.</p>
<p>“I am glad you're okay.” Scar walked away from her, cursing his ineptitude, Lex followed him.</p>
<p>“Where are you going?” Lex questioned.</p>
<p>Scar knew that the Yautja had a single partner in their entire life and he had already rejected some proposals from the Yautja females of his clan, he always found some insignificant detail in them, but the reality was that he had chosen Lex as his partner since he saw her fight by his side, he wanted to be with her and that is why he had marked her, so that his clan would accept her as a warrior and not see her as a simple human. His plan was to return to Earth and somehow connect with that beautiful and determined human female who was difficult to decipher and who had fascinated him so much. He was also aware that she was not a trophy that he could simply claim, he had to win her affection and was willing to try ... until the Queen Alien literally went through his plans.</p>
<p>“I have to go,” Scar said suddenly.</p>
<p>“I'll be leaving in a few days too,” Lex said, feeling hurt, Scar had shown a genuine interest in her at the pyramid and now he seemed so distant. Her words made the warrior stop his steps.</p>
<p>“Where?” Scar asked, returning to her.</p>
<p>“Why should I tell you?” Lex questioned, Scar tilted his head, trying to understand the sudden reaction of the woman, did she not want to see him again?</p>
<p>“Lex ... you did not want to see me?”</p>
<p>“That's what I want to ask you, you come to my window, I go out to greet you and then you tell me you're leaving and you act so weird. You don’t understand everything that I have had to go through” the raw images of the deaths of all the other scientists and friends came like bursts to her memory “I thought you were dead ... and I have tried to forget all of that but I can’t, and I suffered so long because in the nights I remembered everything that happened in the pyramid and had to deal with it alone, because no one in this world was going to understand what happened. Because the only companion who understood my pain had been pierced by that horrible creature and I was alone.”</p>
<p>Scar felt the weight of her statements, he knew they had left her to her own devices, alone in the cold. He brought his hand close to Lex's face to close the distance between them but she jerked it away “No!” Lex exclaimed, his desolation had turned into anger “Maybe you think that humans are just decorative pieces, but it's not like that!”</p>
<p>Scar was hurt by Lex's words, he had never imagined that their reunion would turn into a heated argument “Lex, I couldn't go back because a face hugger infected me. I didn't want to leave you.” He picked up a piece of metal that covered his abdomen and showed to Lex the large scar.</p>
<p>Lex relaxed her face 《So, he <em>did</em> want to come back》 she thought. “Scar ... that's horrible,” Lex said, put a hand to her mouth.</p>
<p>“I always wanted to go back to you,” the Yautja confessed.</p>
<p>Lex felt her legs tremble, he decided to bring his hand closer again and he let it hover above her face. Scar thought she would take it as another daring and that she would be upset about it, but instead, she let him ran his big hand over her soft face and leave it there for a while “Tell me this is real” Lex asked, maybe it was the effect of the wine that had loosened her mouth, but she wanted to tell him so many things.</p>
<p>“I'm real,” Scar said.</p>
<p>He was real and the horrible and elusive black creatures they had faced together were real too. Lex understood that she would never be able to forget the past and all the horrible events but now, with Scar by her side, she felt the courage to face all her fears for the first time in a long time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Goodbye... again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! I'm Dean :)<br/>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them, this fanfic is just for fun.<br/>Thanks again to Frida521!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>Lex and Scar talked for hours, until the predator confessed the reason of his visit to Earth: a hunt. Lex could not help but emit a sigh and a disapproving face, but soon he explained that he only hunted worthy and strong prey, who could give a good fight, he would never take advantage of someone who was not strong enough to defend themselves or who had a disease. He also explained that honorable prey gave a type of status to their kind.</p>
<p>Lex understood that the Yautja race were governed by an innate fighting instinct but that also entailed many complex, strict and unbreakable rules. They were not simple murderers as she had initially thought, their culture was rich, different and misunderstood but apparently everything had a reason for being and she, as much as she wanted, could not change it. Deciding to divert the subject, Lex asked him about how frequent his visits to Earth were and about his lifestyle on his planet, Scar was honored that Lex took an interest in him.</p>
<p>They remained seated on the sidewalk in front of Amber's house, it was so late that there were no longer traces of any child asking for sweets. Lex at times forgot who she was talking to, she got along so naturally with him, that sometimes she forgot he was a killer, a predator. She compared being with him to climbing a great mountain; it was exciting and terrifying at the same time.</p>
<p>So little time had passed since their return and they spoke as if they were old friends and to her surprise, Lex discovered that it was less difficult for her to talk to Scar than with any other human. With him she didn’t need to hide, she felt safe by his side and appreciated the time he shared with her.</p>
<p>Suddenly, Scar remembered his partner: Lake’s hunt was probably over, and by now he had to be back at the hardware store “Lex, I should look for Lake…”</p>
<p>Lex could not see his facial expressions through the metal mask, but his voice denoted annoyance “That Lake is a problem, isn’t?” Lex said, Scar had told her about his relationship with Lake and how unbearable it was.</p>
<p>“He’s too noisy, I don't know how he passed the tests,” Scar said.</p>
<p>“He's just young,” Lex said, for a moment she tried to imagine Lake as a rebellious teenager and Scar as a protective older brother.</p>
<p>“I wasn't stupid like him.”</p>
<p>“I know, but you should take this as a challenge,” said Lex, Scar knew that Lex was right, this was a challenge he had to overcome.</p>
<p>They both got up from the sidewalk “Can we meet tomorrow? Come find me at the hardware store.”</p>
<p>“What about Lake?”</p>
<p>“He entertains himself by hunting,” Scar said, as if that was the most normal thing in the world.</p>
<p>Lex sighed in resignation. While she was meeting with Scar, Lake would be slaughtering humans. “Well… see you tomorrow then.” She didn't stop to think about it or she would begin to question her sanity.</p>
<p>Lex entered her house, Scar waited for her to close the door and left.</p>
<p>The next morning Lex woke up early, she had not slept much, maybe four hours at most, but the adrenaline from Scar's visit had given her new energy. She took a bath, put on blue jeans, a purple blouse and came out of her bedroom.</p>
<p>Amber was already preparing breakfast, her children were sitting around the table.</p>
<p>“Good morning!” Lex exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Hey! Where are you going so pretty?" Amber asked.</p>
<p>“I'm just going out for a little while,” Lex said.</p>
<p>“Oh really? You better eat fast then, I made scrambled eggs” Amber said.</p>
<p>Lex tried to eat quickly, she then said goodbye to Amber and the children and left the house. Amber lent her the car, and Lex thanked her for doing so. It would be easier to get to the hardware store that way.</p>
<p>“What a place ...” Lex said, the hardware store was terrible, just a huge square of concrete. The door was down, the windows were broken, and there were cobwebs and dust everywhere.</p>
<p>Scar was not at the hardware store, he had been spying on a dark-skinned man who worked as the chief of the city police department. Since he arrived, there were few trophies that he could obtain, not because his strength prevented him, but because he would not waste his time hunting a useless prey.</p>
<p>Apparently that man was the only prey that had the potential to become an honorable trophy: he seemed strong, he was tall, well-built, he always carried a weapon hanging from a cable on his belt and he had seen him capture a couple of thieves with success.</p>
<p>Scar stalked him, followed him, and waited for the moment to blind his life forever. Everything was perfect, he would finish him off quickly after playing around a bit and then he would look for Lex.</p>
<p>He waited for the man to leave the building, looking at him from an alley. The street was very busy but that would only add a little more excitement, the idea of killing so stealthily and without being seen made his instinct become more savage, more decided.</p>
<p>The man was already his, he had him on sight, Scar would only shoot him in the shoulder to warn him of his presence and then, he would corner him.</p>
<p>Just a little more…</p>
<p>And…</p>
<p>The bracelet on his wrist began to glow, there was only one thing that could interrupt a hunt: an order from his superiors. He left alone the man: he would have to wait and do everything again some other day.</p>
<p>Furious, he went to a telecommunications building that was many miles away from the hardware store.</p>
<p><em>“What about the hunt?”</em> Lake asked when Scar arrived. Scar was still annoyed by the interruption but Lake also seemed angry, his armor had some blood splatters and the frustrated tone denoted that none had achieved their mission.</p>
<p><em>“We should get back, as soon as possible,” </em>Scar said.</p>
<p><em>“Damn… they probably want to steal our prey,”</em> Lake said.</p>
<p><em>“Or murder us,” </em>Scar said, the call had been clear, they had to leave as soon as possible...</p>
<p>The message from the superiors warned that three bad blood hunters had been detected by their radars and that they should be captured.</p>
<p><em>“We'll kill them,”</em> Lake declared, very sure of himself.</p>
<p>Scar had already heard of those despicable hunters. Led by an old predator named Berserker, they did not respect the code of honor, they killed indiscriminately regardless of whether the prey was worthy or not, and even killed other predators. “<em>The order says that we return to Yautja Prime, from there we will leave for the planet where they detected the bad blood.” </em>Scar explained while Lake grumbled.</p>
<p><em>“It's better if we look for them by ourselves, if we get to Yautja Prime and then we leave, we'll lose time, don't you think?”</em> Lake turned around just to noticed that Scar was nowhere in sight. His partner had left him talking to himself.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lex had already gotten tired of waiting, she yelled a couple of times towards the old and broken hardware store and when she realized it was useless, she returned to her car.</p>
<p>Opening the door, she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. Lex turned and looked at Scar in front of her. “It's been an hour, I thought you wouldn't come,” Lex said in an annoyed tone.</p>
<p>Scar unfastened the tubes that held his biomask and the air escaped with a loud hiss. He released the biomask with a slight bow and the gesture anticipated the image of his strange face. Lex sighed, Scar wanted to see her with his own eyes and for her to see him.</p>
<p>“Lex,” Scar said firmly, she looked at the jaws, the yellow eyes with blue reflections and the dangerously sharp fangs, it would always cause her a certain impression, making her feel awed... they were so different “I have to go back.”</p>
<p>“Another hunt?” Questioned the brunette, somewhat offended.</p>
<p>“No, I have to go back to my planet” Scar said. Lex looked at his yellow eyes, they looked sad, his face worried. She ventured to raise a hand to the predator's head, brushing his jaws in a gentle gesture.</p>
<p>“Why?” Lex questioned.</p>
<p>“Bad blood warriors have been detected.”</p>
<p>“Bad blood?” Lex repeated.</p>
<p>“It means that they are not honorable hunters, they kill everyone equally, without respecting our code, their hunts are not a matter of honor and they are capable of hunting other Yautja.”</p>
<p>“So you're not coming back soon," Lex realized.</p>
<p>Scar didn't want to leave, what was the probability of finding Lex again among all those humans? “I'll try to come back as soon as I can,” Scar promised.</p>
<p>In that moment, Lex thought that perhaps she was being unfair to the warrior. He had his own concerns and problems, asking him to return would be like increasing that burden. Besides, why didn't she want him to leave? Lex thought she was being stupid, it didn't make sense, he was a killer, and she didn't even understand why she wanted him by her side despite that.</p>
<p> 《I don't know what I'm doing here》 thought Lex, she had driven for a while just to see Scar, she had tidy herself up, she had sprayed her skin with perfume, she had even put on makeup! And all of that to see Scar.</p>
<p>“Scar, don't worry about me, go fix your problems,” Lex said, her words somewhat hollow. She wanted Scar to come back, come back to <em>her,</em> and her heart felt confused and tormented. If she just meditated a little she would realize that she was acting like a girl in love and that would only complicate her thoughts further.</p>
<p>Scar had already earned the right to raise a family within his clan, but he was still young and inexperienced. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to be with his little human companion. He didn't care that they were different, she had shown her value and she was also a warrior. He had wanted to see her again and now that she was finally in front of him, he refused to let her go, but orders were orders.</p>
<p>Lex, for her part, did not know what to feel, but she was fully sure that those brief moments with Scar had given her back the strength and hope that she thought she had abandoned in the pyramid, his company represented the memories and the proof that she could achieve anything.</p>
<p>Scar brought his body closer to Lex's, she put her hands on his chest and let him put his arms around her waist, while a pleasant chill ran down her spine. Lex felt the cold metal of the armor as she pressed her face to her chest.</p>
<p> It was a goodbye.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. From the distance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! I'm Dean :) again.</p><p>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them, this fanfic is just for fun.<br/>Thanks again to Frida521! For helping me in the chapter :D</p><p>Hello everyone! I'm new here so I'm learning how statistics work haha<br/>I want to thank AngeleMM77500 and Knockoutlover as well as 3 other guests (I don't know why I can't see them), but thank you very much for the kudos.<br/>And thanks to Nessa for the kind comment, as well as IanAlphaAxel for the Bookmark (I know you follow me on fanfiction, so thanks for supporting me here too!)</p><p>This story is also in fanfiction, in Spanish and English, you can find me as Dean Hersheel.<br/>Happy Holidays to all!</p><p>***At the end of the fanfic I put an Author's Note :)***</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>Lex's vacation had been long enough, she knew it was time to go back to her apartment and take charge of her life again, but she still couldn't leave. For three months, she hadn’t heard from Scar, and she was worried about not knowing anything about him. He had gone after those dangerous hunters and Lex was afraid that something bad had happened to him. Yes, she cared for a predator that easily overpowered any man on the face of the earth.</p><p>It was a hot Saturday and she decided to accompany her sister to the mall, looking to relax a bit. As per usual, Amber took advantage of all kinds of deals, she bought some dresses, sandals and a pair of shoes. Lex was a bit more austere and she chose only a black dress with thin straps that hugged her body and marked her prominent curves very well. Later, they stopped at a fast food restaurant, a small place within the same shopping center that had turquoise blue walls and square tables. The chairs were quite comfortable but the smell of oil did not make the place very enjoyable. Lex ordered a hamburger and Amber preferred a steak with salad and dressings.</p><p>“It smells like oil, but it tastes delicious,” Amber said, slicing off a portion of her steak and stuffing it into her mouth.</p><p>“I can't understand how you eat so much without getting fat,” complained Lex. Her sister worked as an administrator in a small company that was in charge of the sale and distribution of dairy products, and she had no intention of doing any physical activity.</p><p>“Oh, my dear ... I already get too fat during my pregnancies, I don't think I'll get any fatter,” Amber explained. Lex didn't notice how her sister was 'fat', but Amber insisted on saying that the yellow dress she was wearing hid her curves and that it gave her a more favorable image.</p><p>“You look pretty good though,” Lex said, biting her hamburger.</p><p>“Yeah sure, but gallants don't tend to notice single mothers.” Amber wiped a napkin in the corner of her eyes, pretending to wipe away a tear.</p><p>“The right one hasn’t arrived yet. Someone who accepts you just as you are,” said Lex, turning her gaze to a young couple as they laughed and chatted. The girl at one point took one of her fries and gave it to her boyfriend in his mouth while she smiled.</p><p>“Ah… young love,” Amber sighed wistfully, “I was like that, just like that girl.”</p><p>“And why don't you go out with that handsome fireman? Now that I remember, that man brought you some flowers last week.”</p><p>“I don't know, I’ve my children, they are my priority... but sometimes I would like to give myself a chance” Amber smiled, imagining that man with piercing blue eyes “And what about you? Isn't there someone special?”</p><p>Lex <em>knew</em> Amber would bring it up at some point. “I don't know,” she said. She couldn't avoid her sister forever, she was right in front of her and there weren't many places to look at: to the right side of her there was a wall and in the opposite corner there were the two lovers.</p><p>“Come on now, confess. I don't think you haven't met someone in all this time” Amber put her steak aside placing her elbows on the table and clapping her hands, encouraging her to continue.</p><p>Lex remembered all the men she had dated after the Pyramid incident. She could count them on the fingers of her hands and none had ever come to mean anything to her “I’ve met some men… but they’re not what I’m looking for. The last of them was an engineer who could not stop talking about himself.”</p><p>“I know! I hate men who won't listen.” Amber took another piece of her steak and Lex took a sip of her orange juice. “What about that man you recently dated?”</p><p>Lex felt the juice coming out of her nose, so she took a napkin and made an effort to breathe while she coughed. Amber looked at her, alarmed “I haven't dated anyone,” Lex said when she could finally regain her composure.</p><p>Amber was about to call 911 when Lex's face turned purple from her choking on her orange juice “You asked me for the car a couple of times, you tidied yourself up and you were very happy, in fact, I haven't seen you like that for a long time” Amber said. Up to this point, Lex wasn’t aware of her own actions, had she really done all that? Yes, she had seen Scar a few times, but she felt quite normal.</p><p>Certainly, it was some details that gave her away. Nothing ever escaped Amber.</p><p>“Oh… you mean <em>him</em>,” Lex muttered, she was hesitant to continue but as long as she didn't talk too much, everything would be fine. A big smile spread across Amber's face.</p><p>Now there came the questions.</p><p>“Yeah! You have to tell me everything. How is he?” Amber sounded somehow much more excited than Lex.</p><p><em>《</em><em>If you only knew…</em><em>》</em> thought Lex “He's… a <em>bit</em> different, he's not from around here and he lives far away.”</p><p>“<em>Different</em>? And how did you meet him?”</p><p>“On an expedition,” said Lex, thinking of Scar again. She looked at the young couple in love and, for a moment, she imagined herself with the predator .<em>《</em><em>That wouldn't work</em><em>》</em> She thought bitterly. She didn't know why she always had to go back to that gloomy, dark and sinister Pyramid in the middle of nowhere.</p><p>So many nightmares, so many fears and insomnia caused by the terrible memories at some point vanished like the mist at dawn and it was all due to Scar. Remembering his presence gave her security, it was difficult to forget that he had saved her life at the cost of his. Lex could see herself being pierced by the Alien Queen’s tongue-spear in the water tower… but at the right moment, Scar decided to attack the monster and get its attention to allow Lex to get out of the situation.</p><p>Still, it was crazy to spend so much time thinking about him! And she definitely didn't like to start having feelings for that… man? Macho? Predator? He was a manhunter! At the end, that was the cruel reality and as much as she had liked feeling the warmth of his very well-formed body during their goodbye hug. Her practical and always analytical sense told her that whatever had begun to emerge from her heart, it was something that she must stop.</p><p>Yes, she admired him, she respected him, and she… liked spending time with him. She felt her own self and admitted that they both had an adventurous and reckless spirit, but from there to cross a line that made her feel other types of emotions, it was something difficult to accept. And who assured her that in any case he was interested in her?</p><p>Amber refused to accept her sister's short answers, she was determined to get the truth out of her “Oh come on Lex, tell me more.”</p><p>“It's not like I like him…” Lex said, trying to convince herself.</p><p>“But you thought of him, don't be shy and tell me.” Amber looked at her younger sister while she was sighing with defeat, she had realized that Amber would not leave her alone until she got her answers.</p><p>Lex took care of omitting all the deadly details and visualized the image of Scar “He's very tall, very, <em>very</em> strong… he is dedicated to hunting things and doesn't know how to speak English very well, his face is… different”</p><p>“Different? Is he ugly?” Amber tried to connect the dots, but Lex's vague descriptions only added to her doubts.</p><p>“He has a <em>very</em> expressive face.”</p><p>“He <em>is</em> ugly,” Amber concluded confidently.</p><p>“No, he’s not ugly,” said Lex, Scar's face could really be scary, but she already felt familiar with him. “It seems like he's always thinking, as if he's analyzing everything I say.”</p><p>“Hmm, he likes you,” Amber said, taking a sip of her juice. “Men rarely pay attention to what we say, if he looks at you that way it's because he likes you.”</p><p>“That’s kinda sexist...”</p><p>Amber raised her hands as if she implored patience “It <em>isn't</em>, and it works for them too, if a woman pays too much attention to a man, she might like him. There are always certain details that are not repeated with all people and there are certain looks or words that reveal feelings.”</p><p>Lex nodded along to each of her sister's words, was it really possible that Scar had those feelings towards her? Or maybe he was just showing her respect and she was telling herself a story.</p><p>It had been four long years since their first meeting, so many things had changed. She moved away from the ice and became closer to sports in hot climates. Scar had also matured in his own way, to the form and image of the other hunters and Lex could not suppress all the years of education they had given him. It was like trying to change the color of the sky, it was blue and it would always be like that. That was what mortified her the most.</p><p>Was it likely that he had thought about her all those years? And if that was so, why? Didn't he care how different they were?</p><p>Seeing him again only stirred her memories and rekindled her adventurous spirit. It was the equivalent of throwing a match in the middle of a pasture. And she wanted to put out that fire.</p><p>“I don't think so, maybe he's just kind.” Said Lex.</p><p>“And has he looked for you in all this time?” Amber asked. As a good counselor she listened carefully to her sister before making any judgment.</p><p>“Yes... but only because his work coincided with me. He didn't come for me.” The more she thought about it, the weirder he seemed. Scar's job consisted of hunting things: humans, prey… it was something he was proud of and as much as he insisted that he only hunted the strong, Lex felt uncomfortable and didn't think that would change.</p><p>“But he looked for you, he thought of you.”</p><p>《He thought of me…》 Lex repeated to herself.</p><p>When they finished their meal, they headed back home. Amber parked in the driveway and soon cursed over the wheel as she remembered that she had forgotten her handbag hanging on the chair in the small restaurant.</p><p>“I won't be long, you can stay at the house if you want, my children went to play for a while at my neighbor's house, so you won't have to worry about the noise,” Amber said.</p><p>“Are you sure? I can go with you if you want.”</p><p>“Yeah, I'm sure, I'm just going for that damn thing.”</p><p>Lex got out of the car and went into the house, took a glass of water and then headed to her room, she didn't really want to go back to the mall so she was grateful that his sister was understanding.</p><p>The small room had pale pink walls and a magenta carpet in the center, there was a closet, a dressing table and a bureau on each side of the bed. Lex leaned back and looked at a small photograph on the bureau on the left side of her bed, next to a lamp. It was Amber and her two children. She didn’t keep any photos with her ex-husband, undoing every memory, message or letter. She did not want to have anything to do with him.</p><p>After a night in which he arrived drunk and hit her, Amber decided to leave him, as it wasn’t the first violent attack of the man. Lex was watching a movie in her apartment when Amber desperately knocked on the door, a black eye and broken lips indicating the situation.</p><p>Days later, the man went looking for her. Amber innocently believed that she could talk to him and end the unhealthy relationship once and for all, but they had another argument, Lex remained on the sidelines, but the man, blinded by anger and loathing, with his eyes wrapped in rage, started fighting. He brought a knife and lunged at Amber, Lex managed to push him away and the man took it out on her.</p><p>As a consequence, her right arm received what was now a scar.</p><p>Lex raised her hand and looked at the mark on her forearm 《Humans are capable of horrible things too》 she thought, that reassuring her somehow. She judged predators and their hunting habits, but humans were also capable of causing harm. Kevin attacked Amber not caring that she was unarmed, not caring that she was pregnant with Emma, he just attacked her. “So, I think Scar isn't that bad,” she said with a smile. She looked at her window, the sky was completely clear “What could you have been doing now?”</p><hr/><p>
  <em>“It's a shame…”</em>
</p><p><em>“Don't you have anything else to do?”</em> Scar had left the Aula Magna, fuming and ranting left and right, looking for something or someone to take his anger on.</p><p>Lake shrugged his shoulders dismissively <em>“No, not really.”</em></p><p><em>“Well, leave me alone,”</em> he said, he was in no mood to argue with his hunting partner, who was leaning against one of the columns in the enclosure, apparently with a carefree attitude.</p><p>The Aula Magna was a room made of huge stone blocks, it had a smooth terrace supported by two prominent columns and the entrance had a double door of a dark wood similar to cedar, carved with the image of a predator holding the head of an alien. It was at the top of a steep hill, but there were long stone stairs leading up to the place.</p><p>There, the ancients used to discuss various topics, such as which were the favorite hunting places, the types of prey that were planned to be found, the Young Blood, who were preparing for their rite of maturity, among many other things.</p><p>
  <em>“It's not my fault that you were not chosen for the mission...”</em>
</p><p>No, it wasn't Lake's fault. But Scar could hardly think of anything else, he felt humiliated, that was the opportunity he had been waiting for, the opportunity to advance to a higher echelon in his society.</p><p>An elite group detected the ships of the Bad Blood predators and the chase began long before Scar and Lake crossed the reddish skies of Yautja Prime. The elite chased after Tracker and Berserker but they managed to escape and now they have found Falconer's whereabouts. The latter was the youngest Bad Blood and therefore the least experienced.</p><p>The three elite predators considered that facing Falconer would be a great opportunity to test the strength, dexterity and skill of some of the younger bleeding predators and made the decision to choose only one of them to join the select group during the time that the hunt would last. Scar had proposed, like many others of his fellows, but upon entering the Aula Magna, he only received a deep and short: No.</p><p>They did not care who his father was, at that time all the Yautja were considered equal and were only weighted regarding their hunting skills and it was not that he was bad with weapons, but they kept reminding him of his mistake.</p><p>The chestbuster.</p><p>Scar just emitted an annoying snort and walked away from Lake, he followed him, walking fast until he could match his partner's steps. <em>“Stop following me,” </em>Scar snapped.</p><p><em>“I don't know what you're complaining about ... your recently a Blooded Yautja and you've already been given the right to choose a female ... that's not common.” </em>You could hear a certain envious air in Lake's voice.</p><p>Defeating an Alien Queen had some notable advantages over the other Yautja, even some experienced hunters had died against the highest honorable prey, which, far from causing embarrassment, was considered a worthy death. Nothing better than dying giving a good fight. And Scar, on his first hunt, killed a queen, along with several of its lackeys and many of the damned spawns still in their stinking eggs. <em>“We beat a Queen, we deserved it.”</em> Was his dry reply.</p><p><em>“We deserved it,”</em> Lake repeated, hesitating a bit to continue, but in the end he would end up speaking, he was characterized by his overwhelming curiosity and a reckless attitude, which often got him into trouble. And unfortunately for Scar, the young predator found fun in driving him crazy. <em>“You mean the female ooman? Is it because of her that you had decided to not woo other females?”</em></p><p>Scar turned abruptly towards Lake, his jaws opened furiously and an atrocious roar coming out of them. Lake just started emitting a fast half-choppy click mixed with some screeches of his own nature, clearly mocking his partner. He had no idea of how right he was. “<em>I'm not wasting my time with you,”</em> Scar said, and kept walking.</p><p><em>“But you waste it learning those strange languages </em><em>instead of training,” </em>Lake said, Scar was older than him and that definitely put him in command of the missions, but he was still between the thin wall of bleeding youth and experienced predator. His hunts were successful and during all those 4 years he had already made a good amount of honorable prize trophies, but as long as he did not cross that line, Lake would take the opportunity to make him lose his temper. He wanted to fight Scar, that's why he tried to provoke him, he wanted to anger him enough and thus test the strength of his limits and his own abilities. The worst thing that could happen was for him was to hit him or knock him unconscious.</p><p>Scar stopped his steps, again. He burned with anger, his blood boiled, his reserves of patience were already very, very low <em>“I will not respond to the taunts of a Yautja who did not even have the courage to appear before the elite.” </em></p><p>Lake's vague laugh vanished in the blink of an eye. In that case, Scar's words worked better than a good blow.<em> “They didn't let me in,” </em>Lake declared, his spirits failing as did his desire to annoy his partner.</p><p><em>“We all had the same chance,” </em>Scar said, as he understood it, any young bleed could apply for the hunt. Lake denied bitterly.</p><p>
  <em>“They told me that my experience as a hunter is low...”</em>
</p><p>Scar knew there was something else behind Lake's words. <em>“I don't think so, surely something made you unworthy in front of the elite.”</em></p><p><em>“It wasn't like your chestbuster… But yes, like you, I carried something.”</em> Said Lake, Scar crossed his arms, he didn't expect Lake to explain his situation, but since he was unable to close his jaws, he did. <em>“My performance during my maturity test according to the Ancients left a lot to be desired. For them, it is better to attack head-on, look your prey in the eye, so...”</em></p><p>Scar looked at his partner as if he was the most vile and filthy thing <em>“Did you hide?”</em></p><p><em>“No!”</em> Lake exclaimed, he could be annoying and mocking but never a coward “<em>I attacked in the front, I wanted to kill that snake, I wanted to split it in half. I struck it with my blade and its blood splattered onto the tip of my plasmacaster, rendering it useless. The best thing was to use the plasmacaster, but I wanted to show my strength.”</em></p><p><em>“Using the plasmacaster would not have been honorable,”</em> Scar concluded, the plasmacaster gave some security to non-bled youth venturing into their maturity tests, but they had to use it wisely if they didn't want it to turn against them. To use it as a last resort was fine. But using it without first showing his bravery and prowess in the fight was even worse than being killed by the a xenomorph.</p><p><em>“At that time I didn't care about the damn plasmacaster, I used the net, I caught it in it and with my combistick, I killed it”</em>, said Lake, until now, Scar had not noticed any behavior that made his partner unworthy <em>“Then I saw a snake go to attack one of my partners ... I wasn’t supposed to intervene in with his prey, but the idiot was distracted and I attacked it. That angered the Ancients, they released more serpents and ended up killing my two partners.”</em></p><p><em>“They think you're not capable of following orders,”</em> Scar said, that was the reason. As long as Lake won't show his loyalty and obedience, he would be in an even worse position than Scar's.</p><p>Lake nodded.<em> “I know how to follow them, but at the time I don't know what happened to me.”</em> It was a regrettable mistake but to some extent, understandable.</p><p><em>“Well, you're under my command and you haven't failed me…”</em> Scar didn't plan to cheer him up, but he knew how to acknowledge his actions and maybe they could even get along if Lake didn't have such a disastrous character. In the first place, that's why they gave him Lake as a partner, Scar's authoritarian character would keep the predator in check and he would learn to follow in his footsteps, acting according to the Yautja code.</p><p>And secondly, it was like a punishment for the carelessness of the face hugger, but better not mention that...</p><p><em>“And I don't plan on doing it,”</em> Lake said, down the last steps and stretching out his arms, <em>“I'll get my team ready, since I can't go after that Bad Blood, I'll take it out on some oomans.”</em></p><p>The only salvageable thing from that situation was that all the other Yautja that were not chosen would receive new weapons that would protect them in case of crossing with a deserter and could return to their hunts. That meant returning to Earth.</p><p>Scar gave him one last look to the Aula Magna. The best thing that he had instead of participating in an elite hunt was to be with the small human female that fascinated him so much and if he thought about it like that, he had come out winning. He was sure that he would have his chance to face the Bad Blood later.</p><p>Scar headed for the study building, a many-story high in stone and metal construction. It was the highest on the entire planet. You could always see the oldest Yautja sitting on the dark leather chairs, absorbed in books. After so many hunts they now preferred to nurture themselves with wisdom and pass their knowledge on to the younger generations.</p><p>You could rarely find young predators in that place, since they preferred to train, but Scar was determined to improve his English. He already knew something but it was still difficult for him to adapt his mouth to all the strange sounds. Scar explained to the Ancients that his interest was due to the fact that he wanted to converse with his prey, before blinding their lives, which turned out to be a strange and somewhat twisted idea but each predator had different ways of ending the life of their prey. And so they saw no problem in allowing him in to learn.</p><p>His biomask translator obviously made it easy for him to interpret human words, but that didn't mean he could either express himself or start a conversation. When he finally convinced his superiors, he was delighted.</p><p>He didn't want to lie but neither did he want to be involved in endless questions and very possible scolding if he revealed the truth to them.</p><p>The reason for learning the language was —until then— the remote hope of seeing Lex again. Scar went up several floors, reached the rows of shelves containing thin metal boxes that functioned as virtual books and took one of them, sitting in front of a table. And he began to read.</p><p>The entire area was in pure silence, hardly anyone entered that particular area.</p><p>So he stayed for a while, sitting alone, studying hard, until he got tired of repeating the sounds and got up to return the box to its place. There was a lot of dust and with his hand he cleaned the shelf a bit. <em>“What is ...?”</em> He put his hand inside the shelf, the rising dust helped him see more clearly a small booklet in the background, rotten and old. He pulled it out, he had never had one of those in his hands. It was a paper notebook.</p><p>The discovery was shocking to him, in Yautja Prime they no longer used that type of archaic binding, all the books were digital, and the paper books had been replaced and carefully stored in a safe vault, to preserve them.</p><p>Why not that book? Perhaps it was too hidden to be seen. Scar took it carefully, a part of the front paste fell apart in his grasp and he put it on the table, he then read the name on the bottom right of the cover:</p><p><em>“Dachande,”</em> he said aloud, which in English means ‘different knife.’ Scar knew who that respectable Yautja was, he was an ancient leader. He was the first to manage to defeat a Xenomorph, completely unarmed.</p><p>Why did they leave such an important book there? Scar went through the first pages, time certainly had done its part, nothing was understandable. He took several pages in one go and got to a little more than a half.</p><p>The near-ineligible date at the top right and the first-person style told him it was a diary, from a long time ago when Dachande was still an elite Yautja. <em>“I want to think that everything I'm feeling is nothing more than a fleeting woe. That it will disappear with time,” </em>Scar read aloud.</p><p><em>“But what can I do? When I see her, everything disappears. Even my own judgment is evaded and forgotten, I only focus on her steps, on her figure ... she is so agile, so small, so powerful and unstoppable as a storm. My dear Da'dtou-di,”</em> he said, the name in English means 'little knife'. Scar didn’t know that warrior, he had never heard of her.</p><p>Part of it was blurred and yellowish, only the beginning and the last paragraph were noticeable, which was more dedicated to the woman than to his own thoughts <em>“My dear, there is nothing to do, I will have to learn to live with what I am feeling... No one can know that I...”</em></p><p><em>“Why are you here?” </em>The elite predator's severe, hostile voice drowned out his own voice. There it was, facing him, silent and deadly, with an authoritative, savage, and powerful countenance. The very presence of him commanded respect, his intense gaze demanded the answer.</p><p>Scar was so immersed in reading that he didn't even hear the other Yautja's footsteps.</p><p><em>“I'm… reading,”</em> Scar said, that was not the answer that Wolf had expected, he was already a veteran, his skin was yellow and green, half of his face was covered by a huge scar that was caused by the acid blood of a Xenomorph and dozens of other scars covered his abdomen. He had lost the left fang of his jaw and his right eye was almost a yellowish orange color, while his left was white and blind, the product of one of his countless battles. The mesh suit covered only his chest and the loincloth had an additional protection that covered his crotch. He also had various protections on his calves, thighs, shoulders and back and did not carry as much metal as the other predators, his armor turned out to be very light and it was all he needed.</p><p><em>“I know,”</em> Wolf said, his body pure muscle. He was like a stealthy lethal machine. <em>“But why?”</em></p><p>Scar knew exactly what he was referring to. The experienced hunter did not understand why Scar had shut himself up to read instead of training, as did the other warriors who were not chosen for the hunt.</p><p><em>“Curiosity,”</em> said Scar. Wolf could work as a lie detector and he didn't like seeing the young predator immersed in all those language books. Something in him told him that he was hiding something.</p><p><em>“Curiosity?”</em> The elite warrior repeated, no, there was something else. Picking up one of the boxes containing the translations, he shook his head <em>“You should be training like the others.”</em></p><p><em>“I'll go now,”</em> Scar said, he got up and grabbed the small diary, stepping aside of Wolf but he stopped him.</p><p>
  <em>“What are you carrying there?”</em>
</p><p><em>“It's a…”</em> Lying wouldn't do any good, not to Wolf <em>“…diary of the former Dachande leader.”</em></p><p>Wolf stretched out his hand and Scar didn't need words to understand, he gave him the diary.</p><p>The warrior went through the pages, his eyes widened as if he had read something extremely unpleasant or something extremely secret, he roared with sudden anger and his jaws opened wide, Scar recoiled thinking that the hunter would turn on him. <em>“Where the hell did you find this!?”</em></p><p>Wolf's voice didn't hide his disgust. <em>“On one of the shelves,”</em> Scar replied.</p><p><em>“Go train,”</em> Wolf ordered. With disappointment and exasperation, Scar held out his hand for him to return the journal.</p><p>
  <em>“Could you please return the journal to me?”</em>
</p><p><em>“No. I'm not giving you anything back,”</em> Wolf yelled, Scar just nodded.</p><p><em>“Then at least you could tell me who Da'dtou-di was,”</em> Scar asked. He had already learned the hard way that with the elite warrior it was better to always show respect and the way it looked now, the most reasonable thing was to walk away and wait for Wolf to get his ill temper back to normal. But he wanted to know who that female Yautja was.</p><p>Wolf looked at Scar, he had an interest in him, he trusted his abilities, but lately he saw him lazy and carefree and now he had found him reading those language books, following the same path that Dachande took too long to correct. He decided to tell him the truth, or else he would try to search for answers on his own <em>“She was a Bad Blood.”</em></p><p><em>“I see...”</em> Scar said, a thousand questions formed in his mind, why would an elite warrior speak wonders of a despicable Bad Blood?</p><p><em>“There's no more. Don't try to find more information about that.”</em> Wolf said. Scar hesitated, Dachande's words gave him away, he had appreciated <em>Da'dtou-di.</em> But why?</p><p><em>“Alright.”</em> Scar said.</p><p><em>“I'm serious, Young Blood”</em> Wolf had known Scar since he was a pup, he always showed his own opinion of things, without being intimidated and now he had accepted an order without asking more questions that he was sure he had.</p><p><em>“I get it.”</em> Scar looked at Wolf, the feeling that he was hiding something from him didn't abandon him.</p><p><em>“We chose Colt,” </em>Wolf said, hoping to exalt Scar like that.</p><p><em>“Good,”</em> Scar said, he was furious at first, but the truth was that he was more interested in going to Earth than going with the Bad Bloods.</p><p>Scar's passivity caused a deep resentment in Wolf, he knew that there was a rivalry between Colt and Scar, but the latter did not seem to care in the slightest.<em> “Don’t you mind not having been chosen?”</em></p><p><em>“You made a decision and I respect it. There is nothing I can do to change it.”</em> Said Scar, Wolf had given the decisive vote, his word weighed on the Yautja council.</p><p><em>“I expected you to train, to focus on your hunts, to learn from your mistakes. But you're just here, wasting your time</em>.<em>”</em></p><p>Wolf's words penetrated deep into Scar, he knew he was disappointing him. The other Yautja gave him a look as recriminating as he was distant and Scar although didn't have a good answer, something told him that talking to him about Lex would be the worst idea he could think of. <em>“I learned from my mistake.”</em> Scar said.</p><p>Wolf shook his head, the actions that Scar was showing were very contrary to what he was saying <em>“Why the sudden interest in learning that language?”</em></p><p>Scar gulped, trying with all his might to remain calm and not show any sign that would give him away <em>“As I mentioned before, it's just curiosity and because I want to talk to my prey”</em> When he said this, Scar himself thought he had make no sense. Why talk to someone he was going to kill anyways?</p><p>Wolf wasn't buying that, not with his years of experience dealing with various Young Blood <em>“Your next hunt will be on Earth” </em>the predator noticed Scar's jaws moving in an almost imperceptible arc, a smile perhaps.</p><p>
  <em>“Seems right.”</em>
</p><p><em>“Yeah, I think so,”</em> Wolf said, he was starting to tie the stitches, but he didn't want to reach the end of the conclusion. <em>“Are you still seeing her?”</em></p><p><em>“No.”</em> Scar answered faster than he would have wanted, he didn't notice that Wolf didn't even mention her name, he only knew that he was referring to her and inadvertently, he had messed up.</p><p><em>“It will be your last hunt on Earth.”</em> Wolf declared, Scar could only feel his blood drain to his feet.</p><p><em> “I...”</em> he saw Wolf's cold gaze, continuing now would unleash the other warrior's anger, but he couldn't stop. <em>“I’m almost old enough to choose the place of my own hunts.”</em></p><p><em>“What does that mean?”</em> Wolf knew it perfectly, Scar stopped being a Young Blood in the Pyramid, he rose in rank by hunting his first Xenomorph, but due to his lack of experience, Wolf continued to see him as if he were still a Young Blood.</p><p>
  <em>“There are honorable prey on Earth, I won’t waste the opportunity to improve.”</em>
</p><p><em>“You're never going to get better if you keep locked up here. I will revoke your right to enter this place, I don't want to see you here again.</em> ” Wolf said. Scar glared at him.</p><p>
  <em>“Is it because of what I found about Dachande and Da'dtou-di?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It's because you're becoming useless.”</em>
</p><p>Scar snorted in anger, his voice filled with resentment. <em>“I've been practicing until I’m exhausted every day since I returned from Earth, and my free time is spent here instead of drinking or taking walks.”</em></p><p>There was little Wolf could say about that, Scar was trying hard, that was for sure. But he looked different, less aggressive, more thoughtful <em>“You're following in Dachande's footsteps.”</em></p><p>Scar understood it, and the revelation was the equivalent of feeling a sudden jet of icy water on his back. <em>Da'dtou-di</em> was a human and the elite predator had taken an interest in her. <em>“Da'dtou-di was an ooman...”</em></p><p>
  <em>“Something like that is not possible. A union like that is an abomination. Did you get it?”</em>
</p><p>Scar's mind was filled with smoke, confusion and agony.<em> “Yes.”</em></p><p>Wolf saw Scar's saddened look and held back the urge to hit him. Was he really that interested in the human?</p><p>Scar left the room, his hopes that they would accept Lex as his lifemate beginning to fade as at par with Wolf's words.</p><p>But he wasn't going to give up so easily. Not now that he had found her again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Author's note:</p><p>Ooman = human (in the Yautja language)</p><p>I hope this chapter was not disappointing, but don't worry, Scar and Lex will meet again soon.</p><p>*I will post weekly or every two weeks.</p><p>*At first, I wanted this fanfic to go super fast and I didn't plan on doing that many chapters, but I think that would force a lot on the story and the relationship between Scar and Lex (which is incredible in itself) so I rewrote several chapters that I already had and according to me were ready, but felt too fast. I really don't think it will take me a long time to edit them. I have many ideas and things that I want to tell, so be patient, everything will connect :)</p><p>*In the part where Scar finds the diary, I based myself on some characters from a novel called: Alien vs predator: prey, which includes the characters of Machiko Nogushi (Da'dtou-di) and Dachande, which I think in the book is also called Broken Tusk. I clarify that they are NOT a couple in that novel and I modified many things about it so that they could look good in this fanfic, although I try to keep as much of the essence as possible. Credits always go to their respective authors, but the ideas in this fanfic are mine.<br/>Writing Wolf is somewhat complicated, I don't want him to be seen as a villain but not as accessible either, so I'll try to find a balance between those two things;)</p><p>Postscript:<br/>Your comments are always welcome and if you made it this far, I really appreciate it :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. After three full moons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! I'm Dean!<br/>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them, this fanfic is just for fun.<br/>Thanks again to Frida521!!!</p>
<p>HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!</p>
<p>Thank you Knockoutlover for your comment! and thank you JosefoJudas for the kudo :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>
  <em>Antarctica, 2004</em>
</p>
<p>Lex stays on the edge of the cliff, risking falling if she happens to move a couple more inches forward. Adrenaline rushes through her body, her heart pounding in her chest, as if it wanted to go through her skin and fall to the ground.</p>
<p>For a brief moment she believes that the creature will emerge from the depths of the waters to take revenge. She stands there, paralyzed, wishing that wouldn’t happen, and when she sees that the water remains still on the surface, she leans over and picks up a bunch of snow just to throw it, screaming with sudden euphoria. They won. <em>They won.</em></p>
<p>She returns to her partner, and when she sees him lying on the ice with life-threatening injuries, Lex hastens her steps. Scar has something in his hands and tries to bring it to his chest, without success. She leans toward him, panicking.</p>
<p>“No, don't” she pleads in an attempt to convince him, not knowing what else to do.</p>
<p>Scar is not deterred. He’s stubborn and he is not going to let the monster leave his chest. Meanwhile Lex, unaware of the fact that Scar will also have the same fate as Sebastian, only thought that he would commit suicide because he had realized that his injuries were too serious.</p>
<p>Waking up with the facehugger by his side was undoubtedly a hard and tragic blow.</p>
<p>He had just marked himself with the symbol of his clan, killed the alien and now because of a brief oversight, this was where his journey ended. He punches the ground a few times and roars, full of helplessness. He knows that the clock was running against him.</p>
<p>He could end his life at that moment. Show that, even without his plasma cannon, he is capable of emerging victorious. He raises the metal protection of his chest a little and holds his long dagger against his skin. He isn’t afraid, and despite the fact that the spawn is brewing inside him, he only feels a kind of repulsion, hating himself for being so careless, which causes that his hand trembles against the weapon for the first time.</p>
<p>His mouth burns and feels dry. His head is throbbing painfully and suddenly he feels as if he is still in the ship and he pulls the dagger away from his chest at once, searching in the sides for the serious looks of <em>Celtic</em> and the calm ones that <em>Chopper</em> always transmitted.</p>
<p>All of this was due to disorientation, of course, probably caused by the bacteria the face hugger's moist appendage had introduced into him.</p>
<p>Scar scoffs at himself. His brothers are dead and there he is, all alone in that Pyramid full of Xenomorphs.</p>
<p>He will not live to tell his story and he doesn’t plan to return to the mother ship with <em>that</em> inside him, even though they can help him. It would be a disgrace and he can’t think of bearing the disappointed look on his father’s face, who is the elder leader of his clan.</p>
<p>He makes his decision. He will not allow the beasts to win, he will not give them the pleasure of killing him as well and he will avenge his brothers, blowing up the place if it is necessary and dying by his own terms.</p>
<p>But everything changed when he met Lex, that human warrior who showed him her courage and with whom he had established an unexpected alliance. He is going to die but at least he can try to help her out.</p>
<p><em>“You are part of my clan now,”</em> Scar says in his own language. Lex cannot understand that variety of sounds and he is well aware of it, so he points to the mark on her cheek and then to himself. It’s getting difficult to breathe, the pain already turning into a dull throb. He just feels cold despite the thermal mesh suit that covers his body.</p>
<p><em>“I wish you would come with me…”</em> he adds, she is a human but she’s also a ruthless warrior. He points her again with more difficulty than before and then to him and then to the dark Antarctic sky, hoping that she can understand him. The stars appear somehow brighter, one of the arms of the Milky Way is incredibly visible. Lex smiles at a sudden idea, is the dying alien teenager really flirting with her?</p>
<p>“Do you want me to go with you? At least take me to dinner first.” Lex smiles, but she doesn’t feel happy at all. She doesn’t want him to die, strange as it may seem, she wishes with all her heart that he could be healed. The adrenaline is decreasing in her body and she begins to tremble.</p>
<p>The silence is only interrupted by the whispers of the icy wind and Scar can notice a purple color on her lips. His ally will die frozen if she doesn’t get to safety in time.</p>
<p>It is time.</p>
<p>Scar's eyes meet Lex's, he has a tired and frustrated look that she knew well.  He isn’t going to make it and his strength is already so low that the dagger slips from his hands, losing the ability to do it alone. He needs her one last time.</p>
<p>Lex nods and tears roll down her cheeks, she doesn't want to be alone, she doesn't want him to leave. Scar doesn’t understand why she’s crying. Lex holds his hands, and they are bigger than hers, somewhat scaly and very tough. He directs them to his chest.</p>
<p> “I wish it didn't end like this, I want you to live, I'm sorry…” says Lex, wishing that he could understand her words.</p>
<p>“The... enemy... of my... enemy...” Scar's voice was the most unnatural thing Lex ever thought of hearing, it sounded raspy, grotesque and very deep as if all his mouth muscles were straining.</p>
<p>“… Is my friend,” Completes Lex, surprised that Scar would remember her and that he truly considers her a part of his race, a companion, a friend to whom he gave the confidence to end his life.</p>
<p>Scar struggles to stay awake, but blood is flowing from his body without stopping and he is already very weak.  Soon the image of Lex becomes blurry. He drops the dagger with which he planned to commit suicide and his hands fall on his chest. Lex believing him dead, dares to touch his face and his soft dreadlocks. She removes the dagger from his chest and holds his right hand, staying by his side and shedding more tears on the body of the Yautja.</p>
<p>The clan leader appears behind Lex, along with the mother ship. Facing a Queen was a challenge of a far higher level, something his son was not prepared for, but had succeeded.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Reports indicate that bodies have been found hanging in the trees again, it’s believed that there are several murderers, possibly belonging to a kind of sect...”</p>
<p>Lex snapped out of her memories and lost control of her hands, the knife she was holding moving fast toward her palm, making a slash. The news on TV had slapped her to the present.</p>
<p>Amber took the remote control and changed the channel with a disgusted look on her face “I can't believe that’s happening again.”</p>
<p>Lex, who was cutting some tomatoes to make a salad, put things aside for a moment and went to the sink. “Damn…” she groaned. The blood wasn’t stopping.</p>
<p>“Gosh, Lex,” Amber said, then ran to her room and came back with some bandages and a bottle of alcohol.</p>
<p>“It was just a slip, the news… it's terrible,” Lex said, squirting alcohol and gritting her teeth, then Amber bandaged her hand.</p>
<p>“Yes, I know. What kind of monster is capable of something like that?”</p>
<p>《Scar…》 Lex thought, it was either him or the other predator that had caused such acts.</p>
<p>When they finished dinner, Lex went to her room, closed the door and parted the curtains, as if already waiting for the warrior to show up. She couldn’t sleep and looked at the window every five minutes, until finally she heard the insistent tapping on the glass of her window.</p>
<p>Lex opened the window and put her hands on the frame “Scar, hi” she said, she would always see the predator with surprise, he was imposing, lethal and stealthy. She hadn’t heard the slightest sound when he approached the room.</p>
<p>Scar let out a disapproving growl, how could he not come back for her?</p>
<p>“Hello Lex, I wanted to see you again.” In their past conversations he could make himself understood and have a long talk, but his voice was too harsh and forced. Now his voice sounded different, more fluid, more effortless, and maybe even a little more human.</p>
<p>“I see you've improved,” Lex said and went out the window to avoid being seen by her sister, who was drinking wine in the kitchen. Scar was pleased that she had noticed his effort.</p>
<p>He put a hand on Lex's shoulder and shook her vigorously. That was his own way of greeting her.</p>
<p>“How are you?” Scar asked.</p>
<p>“I'm fine,” Lex said, recovering from the sudden jolt and looking at the predator.</p>
<p>Scar made a kind of purr. Lex could identify that sound and know he was laughing, just like when he played that joke with the tongue of the alien in the Pyramid. She had recoiled awkwardly from the shock and fright, and Scar had emitted a soft purr, preparing an improvised spear and a shield with the alien's head.</p>
<p>“You look good,” Scar said, he didn't want to look like an idiot in front of Lex. In their first meeting he was too nervous but now he had more confidence in himself.</p>
<p>Lex's cheeks reddened.</p>
<p>“You… too,” said Lex, although she was smiling, she looked distant.</p>
<p>“Did I do something wrong?” Scar inquired, thinking that maybe his greeting had offended her.</p>
<p>“Have you been hunting around here?” Lex asked, she couldn't really ignore the subject for long.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I got several trophies,” Scar said, he was indeed the cause of the deaths. Lex frowned.</p>
<p>“Scar,” Lex began, she didn't know how to start the topic, she didn't want to offend him since he had just arrived, but she couldn't pretend that she agreed with his actions and it was better to let him know now. Nervously, she smoothed the fabric of her shorts and faced the warrior again “And you’re going to keep hunting around here, right?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” he answered, he had to find that policeman, that was for sure. Lex felt uncomfortable, thinking of old Weyland and imagining how horrible his death at the hands of the predator had been. She could still hear his screams her nightmares. Scar tilted his head to the side, trying to figure out why Lex looked so concerned.</p>
<p>“You told me that Weyland, the old man of the Pyramid, attacked you... and that that was why you killed him.” Lex tucked one of her curly hair strands behind her ears and then looked at Scar, straight into the blank eyes of his biomask.</p>
<p>Scar turned his head sharply, his dreadlocks danced with the movement and a roar escaped his mouth. He didn't like the expression on Lex's face at all, it was as if she doubted him “Don't you believe me?” questioned the Yautja.</p>
<p>“I do,” assured Lex. Scar was not very convinced of his answer and pressed some of the controls on his bracelet. A red hologram in the shape of a rectangle was displayed and the video of the last moments of the old Weyland appeared in front of Lex. She could observe how Scar had held him fiercely by the neck and then dropped him abruptly. “Okay, I do not want to see <em>that</em>,” Lex complained, disgusted.</p>
<p>Scar turned off the image.</p>
<p>“I’m really trying to understand why you do… all that. I know that hunting is something cultural for you, but it's hard for me to see how you kill people” Lex recalled the newscast while Scar emitted another roar, even louder than the previous one.</p>
<p>“Would you to hear me for just a second!?” Lex exclaimed in a serious and annoyed tone. She just hoped that all those roars didn't wake up her relatives or neighbors. The Yautja began to pace from one side to the other, he didn’t say anything else, he was waiting for her to continue “You could try to understand me too. It’s not pleasant for me to see bodies hanging like piñatas, they are human and of my species.”</p>
<p>“They're prey,” Scar retorted angrily.</p>
<p>Lex felt her blood boil from the contemptuous tone in which Scar had mentioned the word prey. “I'm prey too,” Lex snapped. Scar grunted and made several clicks, he cursing in his own language.</p>
<p>He loved the direct and daring way the little human spoke to him, it showed her bravery. But right now she was annoying and nosy. And above all that, Lex was different, she was remarkable and comparing her to other humans was unacceptable.</p>
<p>Lex ventured to say something else. “Would you like to see other predators hanging from the trees?” She feared she had gone too far with her question and now only hoped to see the reaction of the Yautja.</p>
<p>Scar looked at the Lex. He should had been furious at her daring tone, but instead, he admired her 《She has guts, even though she's so small》 he thought, bemused. He wasn’t bothered by her question, it had amused him. He walked around her as if she were a lion about to attack, her strong and indomitable character attracted him greatly.</p>
<p>“It's different” Scar's voice dropped a few decibels and Lex sighed with relief. She thought Scar would explode in anger but luckily he was the opposite, the predator was beginning to calm down.</p>
<p>“I'm not asking you to stop hunting, I just want to know if it's possible for you to move the hunt somewhere else,” Lex said, crossing her arms and waiting for Scar to speak again, but he just leaned against the wall of the house, in silence “If you do that, it means that I can really trust you, because you’ll have respected my request.”</p>
<p>Scar knew Lex was very smart and had chosen the right words, she didn't leave him much room to refuse and he didn't want her to be angry with him either. He decided to agree, he would abandon his prey in that city, just to please the brunette, and part somewhere else with the sole consolation that Lex appreciated his act and with the thought that, after all, there were not so many honorable prey “Well, I accept what you say, I'll move the hunt...”</p>
<p>Lex freed herself of a great weight on her shoulders and also unnecessary displays of violence.</p>
<p>“Thanks, I knew you'd understand,” Lex sighed with relief.</p>
<p>Scar saw Lex's bandaged hand, the blood had made a visible red stain “Have you been fighting?” Scar asked with open interest.</p>
<p>“Oh, this? No, it was just an accident,” Lex answered, Scar holding the small hand as gently as he could.</p>
<p>“I can heal you, if you want,” said Scar, then detached his Medicomp from his back and took out a tube with a fluorescent orange liquid. Lex looked at that strange metal box that contained small tweezers, razors and more tubes with rare healing liquids.</p>
<p>She finished removing her bandage and Scar spread the liquid over the cut with his fingertips, the slimy and cool sensation calming Lex's annoying stinging.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” Lex sighed, closing and opening her hand a couple of times, surprised at the rapid improvement. “And how did it go with the Bad Bloods?” she asked.</p>
<p>Scar wasn't planning on discussing this with Lex, mainly because he was rejected by his superiors which was <em>very</em> embarrassing to him.</p>
<p>“I couldn't participate in the hunt…” Scar grumbled, keeping the salve in his Medicomp.</p>
<p>“Why?” Lex asked.</p>
<p>“The elite group chose another Yautja… and they made us train harder and gave us new weapons.”</p>
<p>Lex noticed his frustrated and annoyed tone. “And why does that seem to bother you?”</p>
<p>Scar snorted, remembering his unsuccessful conversation with the other hunters and then, the last dialogue he had with Wolf “Because I still carry my mistake.”</p>
<p>“What mistake?”</p>
<p>“The chestbuster” Scar clarified.</p>
<p>“But it was an accident, I don't think it was your fault.”</p>
<p>“It was,” Scar said, shook his head and crossed his arms, “I was distracted for a moment and something terrible could have happened if it came out of me. I preferred to kill myself before that abomination could break out of my chest. But since our battle with the Queen was honorable, they decided to save my life and take that crap away from me.”</p>
<p>《So… he wanted to end his life because of the chestbuster…》 thought Lex.</p>
<p>“That place was a complete disaster. We had a hard time getting out alive and that was a very big achievement. Your superiors should understand.”</p>
<p>Scar wished things were as easy as she made them look. “No mistakes are allowed on my planet.”</p>
<p>Lex supposed that all of this had been devastating for Scar, in his voice she could hear his disappointment “Huh? Well, you were the only one who passed that maturity test. You killed all those creeping creatures and a Queen.”</p>
<p>“As long as I don't show Wolf that I've improved, they'll keep sending me on minor missions, punishing me with Lake...”</p>
<p>“Wolf?” Lex asked. “What is he? Is he your boss?”</p>
<p>“No, he’s an elite Yautja. He was my teacher.”</p>
<p>Lex put a hand on his chest “I know you’re very strong, you’ll see that you will make him change his mind” she said. Scar felt the warmth of the small palm and began to emit a soft purr, he felt happy thanks to Lex.</p>
<p>“Now that I'm with you, though... that's good too.” Despite Wolf's warnings, Scar decided to visit Lex. He excused himself thinking there was nothing wrong with just maintaining a close friendship with her, which, according to him, would give him enough time to convince him of Lex's worth.</p>
<p>Lex sat on the ground and invited Scar to do the same, she then dared to lean her head on his arm, like they were old friends.</p>
<p>“It is,” Lex said, Scar accepted the gesture and adjusted his arm, leaning a little and flexing the limb so that she felt more comfortable. On his planet they weren't so affectionate but he thought he could be more accessible, just for her. “What did you do in this time?”</p>
<p>“I've been training and learning your language,” Scar confessed.</p>
<p>“I'd like to understand you too, one day you should bring me a book in your own language.” Lex asked, Scar turned his head towards her, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.</p>
<p>“I will,” Scar said, feeling so lucky to have met someone like Lex. He raised his arm a little to get closer and she could see that he had some scars near his elbow.</p>
<p>“What happened to you there?” Lex asked worriedly.</p>
<p>“They're old, they're from a hunt on another planet,” he said, it was common for him to collect scars. “Don't you have battle scars?”</p>
<p>Lex had several scars from her past expeditions but only one could be considered a fighting mark. She decided to show him the scar that Amber's ex-husband had caused on her right arm “Just this one.”</p>
<p>Scar looked at Lex's marked arm, his curiosity piqued. “How did it happen?”</p>
<p>“A man wounded me with a knife, he was my sister's husband, he wanted to kill her and I faced him. Then he attacked me.” Said Lex, Scar observed the cut, the thickness indicating the depth. Lex must have bled a lot.</p>
<p>“Were you unarmed?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Lex replied, Scar emitted an annoyed growl, what kind of despicable being attacked in such dishonorable way? “I managed to get the knife away from him, but it was too late.”</p>
<p>“That won't happen again, I'll help you to be stronger,” Scar said.</p>
<p>“Are you going to train me?” Lex raised an eyebrow and patted his arm lightly.</p>
<p>“If you would like…”</p>
<p>“My sister will pick up her children from her school and the house will be alone for a while. You can come if you want and teach me a little.” Lex lowered her head so that Scar couldn't notice the growing crimson on her face.</p>
<p>“I'll see you when the Sun is at its highest.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lex did not remember ever looking at the sky so many times as that afternoon. Scar was extremely punctual, she heard a knock on the door and saw how the figure of the predator began to appear before her eyes, leaving behind the cloak of invisibility.</p>
<p>“Come in,” said Lex, Scar had to shrink a little and pass sideways through the wooden door, his head rose against the ceiling and he was careful not to bump into all those tables and small objects that decorated the house, which was something difficult to achieve. After the tubes that connected his biomask were detached, the air hissed and Lex tried with all her might to stay relaxed.</p>
<p>But it didn't take long for her to get nervous, seeing Scar in the clear daylight made him look bigger and made him look even more imposing.</p>
<p>“What a curious… house” said Scar. He advanced towards the kitchen, there were many different smells and coffee predominated, he didn't know it, for him it was something strong and intense, maybe even a little bittersweet.</p>
<p>“It's my older sister’s,” said Lex, passing by the bar and suddenly wondering if he ate or maybe he just photosynthesized like plants or even something weirder... her doubts were cleared when she saw him grabbing a glass vase quite familiarly.</p>
<p>“Glass? Or mug?” He asked.</p>
<p>Lex was more than surprised, he had not only improved her English, but he had also learned more vocabulary.</p>
<p>“It's a glass,” Lex said, he inspected it, in his hands, the glass seemed very small.  “Do you drink water?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s okay,” Scar said and put the glass on the bar, his golden eyes staring at Lex's every move and she was aware of it. She managed to spill some water on the floor.</p>
<p>“Damn,” Lex said, grabbing a rag and starting to mop the floor.</p>
<p>“Are you nervous?” Scar asked.</p>
<p>Of course she was. “No, no, it's just that…” 《Come on, make up a quick excuse so that he doesn't think that his presence bothers you》 she thought. “I'm surprised that you like water, that’s it. We aren’t that different.”</p>
<p>Scar moved his jaws in an expression that seemed to be a smile, spreading his fangs a little “I think we are quite alike...”</p>
<p>He was a Yautja male, but his body had certain parts that turned out to be very similar to human males. “Yes, I think so too,” Lex said, her mind going to a thought she had tried to ignore. He was obviously a man, he obviously had a-</p>
<p>“Why are you looking at me like that?” Scar asked, feigning innocence and catching Lex's invasive gaze that traveled shamelessly over his well-sculpted abdomen to his waist and a little lower.</p>
<p>“Nothing,” Lex said, too quickly, but her cheeks gave her away, her blush evident.</p>
<p>“Were you imagining... dirty things?”</p>
<p>Lex shook her head, his question had caught her off guard “So your superiors taught you all kinds of words.”</p>
<p>“Some of them I learned on my own,” said the warrior.</p>
<p>“I don't want to know where,” Lex said with a smile.</p>
<p>Scar took a sip from the glass, letting the water drop from a certain height as in a ‘waterfall’. The glasses on his planet had a curved shape and looked more like a deep crescent plate adapted to the jaws of the Yautja. Hence, some drops of water fell on his chest. Lex grabbed a towel and without much thought, wiped the water off his chest.</p>
<p>Scar took her by the cheek that he had marked and caressed her slowly. Lex was as strange to him as he was to her. Her lips, the texture of her skin, everything about her made him curious. Lowering his hand down to her neck, his claw feeling dangerously sharp, Lex began to gasp for breath and pulled away from the grip.</p>
<p>Her heart was slow to stabilize.</p>
<p>“Do you want us to start?” Scar asked.</p>
<p>《Sure, training…》thought Lex.</p>
<p>They walked to the living room, it was the most spacious place in the house. Lex moved some of the tables and Scar moved the chairs until the center was clear “I hope we don't ruin the place or else my sister is going to get upset.” said Lex.</p>
<p>Scar let out an amused trill “Let's just train.”</p>
<p>“Do you know of any other way to ruin a room?” Lex raised an eyebrow in amusement.</p>
<p>“I know several,” Scar said, his gaze sweeping over Lex's body.</p>
<p>“Well, don't get your hopes up, boy.” A big smile appeared on her face.</p>
<p>“Same here,” Scar said. He pulled a dagger from somewhere between the protection of his right calf and gave it to Lex.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah? Then why do you insist so much on seeing me?”</p>
<p>Scar activated his wrist blades “Focus. You must keep a cool head before any fight.”</p>
<p>《What a way to turn off the mood…》 thought Lex “Well, what do I do?”</p>
<p>“Attack me.”</p>
<p>“Do I attack you seriously?”</p>
<p>“No, but pretend you do,” Scar said, he was excited, training with Lex was something he had longed for a long time.</p>
<p>Lex doubted a bit, Scar's strength was destructive and unstoppable, she didn't want the house to end up with a hole “Just promise me we're not going to destroy the house” Lex said with concern.</p>
<p>“We're not going to destroy the house,” Scar repeated, like a mantra. He did not know why Lex cared so much about the small construction. On his planet it was easy to repair houses and if they resulted with some kind of damage after training, it was something that could be bragged about. “But if you want, let's go out to your garden.”</p>
<p>“No, this is fine,” said Lex, not wanting the neighbors to see him or worse yet, for him to consider them a threat and start attacking them.</p>
<p>Lex approached him as fast as she could, raised the dagger to Scar's chest and he took her by the arm, turned her around and made her face back against him, her arm bent behind her lower back. Just as he had her, it was difficult to control his desire for her.</p>
<p>Lex felt the embracing heat radiating from Scar's body, the scent of his skin… she liked having him so close.</p>
<p>“Try again.” Scar released her grip.</p>
<p>Lex attacked again, only now to one side, Scar took her arm again effortlessly. “You're stronger than me”</p>
<p>“You'll have to think of something, because now I'm going to attack you.”</p>
<p>Lex felt her legs <em>tremble</em>, Scar wouldn't hurt her, but even so, the idea of him pouncing on her scared her. Scar asked her for the dagger and showed her how to hold it properly, then gave it to her and reactivated his wrist blades.</p>
<p>“I'm ready,” Lex said, Scar walked up to her.</p>
<p>“Raise the dagger when you see a frontal attack, as you are small, they will try to hit you from above” said Scar, Lex did so and 'blocked' the attack of the blade.</p>
<p>“Now it's serious,” Scar said, slamming her blade into the dagger which ended up bouncing off the ground, then retracted the blades and with his forearm pushed Lex lightly. “Use your elbow to hit my arm.”</p>
<p>Lex did, but her blows didn't even tickle the strong warrior “The melee attack is very uneven” she complained.</p>
<p>Scar knew it, Lex could never surpass him in strength, but since it was only a training and not a serious combat, it was fine. “You'll have to use your brain” said Scar, holding her of her blouse, tearing the fabric a little and pushing her to one of the chairs, he then reactivated the blades and brought them to her neck “What would you do in a situation like this?”</p>
<p>Scar was quite close, he completely surrounded her in the small chair.</p>
<p>Lex looked at one of the dreadlocks that was swinging from Scar's shoulders, stretched her arm and pulled hard, the predator fell back on her steps and Lex took the opportunity to run towards the dagger and point Scar in the face. “What about that?”</p>
<p>Scar was still struggling to recover, her dreadlocks were a very sensitive muscle and Lex had clenched it without mercy. He felt a kind of pain and excitement that ran through his back like an electric shock. “It was a low blow… but smart.” He reached for the extension and made a pained face.</p>
<p>“Did it hurt? I'm sorry...” Lex said, she stretched her arm to the long tendril and Scar tensed at the caress.</p>
<p>“It's just that these things are sensitive, it took me by surprise ... but you were fine. I'm proud of you.” Scar said, Lex smiled, she won and it was something she could definitely show off.</p>
<p>“So… your hair is very sensitive.” Lex tugged at the hair extension a bit, and then slowly released it.</p>
<p>“I know you have very sensitive parts too, so don't try to take advantage of me.”</p>
<p>Lex widened her eyes.</p>
<p>“And how long are you planning to stay?” Lex asked, unable to come up with any clever phrases.</p>
<p>“A little more than before,” Scar said, then proudly detached a sack made of mesh from his belt and activated a small button that made the mesh visible to Lex.</p>
<p>“Good heavens…” Lex said, felt a sharp pain in the center of her stomach and it took all her willpower not to throw up. Her happiness disappeared.</p>
<p>Scar showed him the mesh with at least three freshly polished human skulls “You told me...”</p>
<p>“I didn't hunt them here and they were armed,” Scar said. For him, that was very normal, it was a ritual to skin people, polish their skulls and collect them as trophies. He put the bag next to the chair.</p>
<p>Lex wondered whose the hell were all those skulls… cops? Military? Criminals? The range of armed people was very, VERY wide. “But when did you catch them?” Lex's voice sounded alarmed, though she tried to hide it.</p>
<p>“After talking to you yesterday’s night...”</p>
<p>“Oh, I see,” she said, the predator had happily gone to the neighboring city to murder people, quite normal for him, while Lex was sleeping peacefully.</p>
<p>Scar felt somewhat disappointed, he expected Lex to congratulate him or at least to give him a small compliment, but she seemed to see the bag of his trophies with aversion and discomfort and he didn’t understand it. He had kept his word, he hunted those people in the neighboring city, taking advantage of the fact that a bank had just been robbed.</p>
<p>For Lex, that detail reminded her of the fact that Scar was a manhunter and that though he was kind to her, it didn't mean he would ignore his ways.</p>
<p>“What's wrong?” Scar questioned impatiently.</p>
<p>“It's just a little...” 《Aberrant, sinister, terrifying ... Get those skulls out of here! 》Lex thought. “I mean, there are many of them…” She muttered.</p>
<p>Scar started rummaging through the skull sack. “Here,” he said, Lex looked at the small skull, it was still a slight pinkish color and it belonged to a small animal, a feline perhaps.</p>
<p>“How... nice, thank you,” Lex said with a smile, more nervous than happy. The skull fit perfectly in her hand, Scar was pleased by Lex's approval. “Why are you giving me… this?”</p>
<p>That question got Scar off guard now.</p>
<p>“Uh... that...” He didn't want to confess his intentions, but he couldn't assume that she already knew what he meant by such a gift. <em>Another</em> culture shock.</p>
<p>The mating season, or rather, ‘time to choose a partner season’ had already begun on their planet, and it was customary to present different types of objects or trophies to Yautja females as a symbol of interest and courtship.</p>
<p>And he didn't want to explain all of that to Lex. On his planet, females just got the message and didn't ask questions, but Lex had put him in a somewhat awkward situation.</p>
<p>Lex let out a laugh that made Scar snap out of his thoughts “It's just, I remembered once my cat brought a little bird to my window.”</p>
<p>《Had a cat tried to woo Lex? And what the hell is a 'cat' anyways?》Thought Scar. Lex noticed the change in Scar's expression, he had no eyebrows, but the muscles above his eyes contracted in an annoyed expression.</p>
<p>“It's an animal, a pet,” Lex said jokingly, Scar relaxed his expression and Lex smiled at the implication, Scar had felt jealous of a <em>huge, intimidating, devilish</em> ... cat.</p>
<p>“Lex, are you there?” Amber knocked on the door. “I forgot my keys.”</p>
<p>Lex's eyes widened, she looked at Scar like she wanted to make him disappear.</p>
<p>“AMBER?” She screamed, she didn't think the woman would come back so soon, she was supposed to go to the school! Lex began to lift the cushions on the couch. “Oh yeah… uh… the keys.”</p>
<p>Scar also checked the place although he wasn't sure what exactly they were looking for.</p>
<p>“You're good? You sound agitated...”</p>
<p>《And how can you not want me to feel agitated? I have an extraterrestrial 7' in your living room!》 “No, it's nothing,” she said, looking at the door of her room. Lex took the biomask and gave it to Scar. “Please” Scar didn't need to hear any more words, Lex's pleading look was much clearer.</p>
<p>“I can use my camouflage,” he said.</p>
<p>“No, no, no, no, no,” Lex said, not wanting to risk it. Scar had never heard so many 'no's' together and in a way, he was amused by Lex's paranoia. “In my room! Stay there, please” With that said, he began to push Scar to force him to move forward.</p>
<p>Scar walked and Lex locked him in the room. “The skull sack stayed outside,” Scar said.</p>
<p>Amber opened the door “I found the keys, I had put them in my pants.”</p>
<p>It was the end...</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Under pressure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! I'm Dean!<br/>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them, this fanfic is just for fun.</p><p>Thanks to Frida521 for her help :)</p><p>I think I'm finally learning to use this platform haha<br/>***************************************************************************************************************************<br/>I decided to add some tags and also modify the category from T to M, as it is a fanfic about predators, hunts, romance and it is inevitable to put some somewhat explicit scenes (but don't worry and at the beginning I will put a note without spoilers in case you don't want to read explicit content)<br/>***************************************************************************************************************************<br/>Thank you ShinaWorld for your comment :)</p><p>MidnightHowling, Julhis and the guests I can't see -I don't know why- Thank you so much for the kudos!</p><p>nanapasapa and Zaragoz_Rex Thanks for the bookmarks :)</p><p>Until the next chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>“Amber!” Lex exclaimed with a mixture of panic and false enthusiasm.</p><p>“What’s going on?” Asked her sister somewhat confused.</p><p>“I thought you'd come back… later.”</p><p>“Well, yes, it's just that I went to the supermarket first and school ends later.” Amber looked at her living room, things were out of place and Lex had a slight pinkish hue on her cheeks. Her hair looked messy, not to mention that her blouse had a mysterious cut near her neck “What happened here?”</p><p>“I-I was exercising…” Lex stuttered.</p><p>“…Great.” Amber was the same or more nervous than her sister. “Lex, by the way... there's someone out there who wants to see you.”</p><p>“Who?” Lex questioned. No name came to her mind, she felt quite removed from everything. It was supposed to be her vacation.</p><p>“Fred Harrigan.”</p><p>“My ex-boyfriend from college? How is that even possible?” Lex could not hide her annoyance at hearing the well-known name, she was one of those direct people who did not hesitate to show her opinion. And because of her situation, it was the last straw.</p><p>“Yes, I ran into him at the market and we talked and then he insisted that he wanted to see you.” Amber ran a hand over the back of her neck, she felt sorry and knew that she had put her sister in a truly desperate situation.</p><p>“Amber… but how could you accept something like that? I haven't seen that man in a thousand years!” Lex said, she rubbed her hands over her face and began to walk around the room, trying to return the furniture to its place.</p><p>Seeing Fred again, after so many years and in such a sudden way, caused her an upset stomach. In fact, she realized that all those sudden emotions she had been dealing with so often would at some point lead to a horrible diarrhea.</p><p>And it wasn't like she hated the man, she just didn’t imagine that she’d ever see him again and now he couldn't have come at a worse time.</p><p>“I know, I know... but he was <em>very</em> insistent, and what could I have done? He almost begged me to let him come with me!” Amber apologized. Lex looked into her room, the door was open. That made her brain cells explode. “Oh, so is there someone in your room…?” Amber asked mischievously.</p><p>“NO!” Lex yelled, walking to the room, while she cursed in a low voice. And <em>of course</em> there was no one inside, Scar had probably run away and she couldn't see him.</p><p>“AHHHHHHHH”</p><p>Amber's high-pitched shriek only announced the inevitable, either she had seen Scar or she saw The Sack of Death. She backed up to her sister and luckily, she hadn't encountered the predator.</p><p>“Amber, I can explain it,” rushed Lex, taking her sister by her shoulders. “They're <em>toys</em>, they're not real.”</p><p>“How can you even say that?” Amber said, irritated and turning away from her sister.</p><p>“You’re right, I admit it. But I need you to calm down,” said Lex in a low and anguished tone. There was no going back, Amber had discovered her “They are real, but I swear there is an explanation... those skulls, I-”</p><p>“THOSE <em>WHAT!?</em>” Amber screeched. Lex paled, suddenly realizing Amber was referring to a cockroach nest behind the pantry.</p><p>“Oh, yes, <em>that</em>. <em>That's</em> what I meant, it’s just that those… cockroaches are <em>very</em> rare and look <em>a lot</em> like skulls...” said Lex, the more she explained herself, the weirder the matter became.</p><p>Meanwhile, Scar could see how Lex was entangling herself in her own lies. He let out a purr-shaped laugh.  </p><p>“You're so weird today, Lex.” Said Amber.</p><p>Fortunately for Lex, the sack magically was lifted from the ground and then disappeared. Scar took it and brought it to Lex's room.</p><p>And mere moments later, Fred Harrigan walked into the house. Lex felt like she was the epitome of bad luck.</p><p>“I'm sorry, I just couldn’t wait anymore to see you,” the man said. Lex felt like she was going to pass out, she was on the brink of a mental collapse. Lex gave a quick scan of the room wishing Scar wouldn't show up and turned her gaze from her sister to Fred.</p><p>“I'll leave you, I'll go to my room,” Amber said and touched her sister on the shoulder giving her a little pat, Lex just looked at her with a pleading face.</p><p>She’d have to deal with everything alone.</p><p>Fred was a man with dark skin and big brown eyes. At first, she had believed they were the same: they liked the same kind of music, they watched the same kind of movies and their favorite foods were similar, however, Fred was one of those people who preferred to settle in one place and ‘settled down’, Lex wanted to explore the world and get new experiences and at In the end, their paths parted.</p><p>He was wearing a blue shirt and black trousers, on his arms he was carrying a huge bouquet of red roses. Lex gulped and smiled at her other guest.</p><p>“Hi, Fred,” she said as he was giving her the flowers.</p><p>“My god, Lex, we haven't seen each other for such long time and you're still beautiful.” Said Fred, Lex held her flowers and smiled. He hugged her and approached her to kiss her on the cheek.</p><p>It was then that the door to her bedroom slammed down hard, Lex jumped up and away from Fred. Scar kept aware of the conversation, keeping an eye on the new intruder.</p><p>“What was that?”</p><p>“Ah... it must have been the wind.” Lex tried to visualize Scar, she knew he was there, but she couldn't see exactly where, after all, the predator had used his camouflage.</p><p>“Wow… what an… elaborate scar,” Fred said, trying to put his hand close to Lex's cheek, but she blocked his grip by putting her own hands on her face, almost out of inertia.</p><p>“I got it on an expedition,” Lex said.</p><p>“It looks like it was painful.”</p><p>Lex remembered the burning of the acidic blood of the alien on her skin, it was the equivalent of passing the tip of a lit match on the skin or maybe worse.</p><p> “A little bit.” Lex admitted, she looked at Fred, remembering him less tall and more robust. He now seemed like a different man, as if he spent every afternoon in the gym, the blue shirt clinging to his body made his musculature stand out. He had short hair and a padlock-like beard flush with his skin. “And why did you come so suddenly?”</p><p>“To the point, as always,” Fred said, that was a great feature of Lex, to be blunt. “I've tried looking for you, you're hard to find… and I wanted to talk.”</p><p>“About what?”</p><p>“About our lives,” Fred answered easily, “I'm a cop, every day is like an adventure.” To him, Lex looked much more mature, she had always been an independent and beautiful woman, but now her gaze seemed more serious and her body more developed and attractive.</p><p>“I thought you didn't like risks,” said Lex as she put the flowers in a jug of water and took the small skull that the predator had given her, hiding it behind her back.</p><p>“These are <em>controlled</em> risks, it's not like climbing a mountain without protective gear.” Lex raised an eyebrow, she knew that comment was going directly to her.</p><p>“There are no controlled risks, there are just risks,” Lex snapped, Fred walked up to her.</p><p>“Lex I- I also want to invite you to dinner, that's why I came.”</p><p>Lex found it not only strange, but annoyingly abrupt. Fred looked impatient as if his life depended on convincing her.</p><p>“Fred, I don't know, it's been such long time since we parted and this is way too soon.”</p><p>Fred shrugged, but he wouldn't waste the opportunity to share even a brief moment with her.</p><p>“It'll just be dinner, to talk and then I'll bring you home.” He said.</p><p>The brunette observed three red dots that appeared on Fred's forehead and felt surprise and fear seized her, her words stuck in her throat, as if they had hit her in the stomach.</p><p>“Enough!” She yelled loudly, shaking her head to force herself to stay alert, “You better not do anything!” Scar put away the plasma cannon as he growled. She would have to talk very seriously with the predator.</p><p>Fred looked at her between confused and amused, he dragged a half smile and with an extremely sensual tone, he purred “We're not going to do anything you don't want.”</p><p>Lex shook her head “I'll be busy, sorry.” Her head started to hurt.</p><p>Fred smirked. “Is it your vacation? Come on Lex, you and I both know that's not true” The man was quite persistent when something got into his head, and that was one of the qualities that Lex had liked when he met him, “Is it okay for you if I come for you at 7 in the afternoon?” asked Fred.</p><p>Lex just wanted the ground to swallow her.</p><p>“Fred, no,” she said, the man grabbing her by the shoulders.</p><p>“Okay, I admit it's all very sudden ... what about next week?”</p><p>Lex could feel the intense gaze of the predator on her back “Okay, okay, next week.”</p><p>Fred left moments later, there was no time for her to offer him something to drink, as he had to go back to the police station. Lex stood there, in the middle of the house, confused by everything that had just happened.</p><hr/><p>It had been hard for Scar to keep his word to her, he could only thought about killing that wretched and despicable human. Fred was nothing less and nothing more than his honorable prey, he was the man Scar had been stalking before leaving for his planet and he heavily regretted not having killed him when days ago he had the opportunity. Now the man posed a threat and his promise to Lex kept him from acting.</p><p>“He's finally gone,” Lex sighed, she didn't need to turn to know he was behind her. “I can't believe you pointed that <em>thing</em> at him, did you want to give me a heart attack?”</p><p>Scar just wanted to show the man that Lex belonged to him.</p><p>“I was just going to scare him,” Scar said, now fully visible.</p><p>“Yeah, of course you were going to scare him by pointing it at his head, just what the hell is wrong with you?” Lex was angry, she didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if Fred saw the dots on him. Scar had been very reckless.</p><p>“I don't understand why that human has to come to see you.” Scar's voice was louder and annoyed, almost upset.</p><p>“Shhh! Lower your voice, will you? My sister is in her room,” Lex said with a scolding gesture.</p><p>Scar had no intention of keeping silent “That man, why are you going out with him?” He said in the same high tone.</p><p>“Has Fred left yet?” Amber yelled from her room.</p><p>“No!” Lex yelled. She looked at Scar, she wouldn't leave him alone so easily, then added in a low voice “Let's go to my room, I'll explain there.”</p><p>Lex closed the door behind her, Scar was waiting for her with his arms crossed over his chest “He was my boyfriend… an ex-boyfriend.”</p><p>“A boyfriend…” Scar repeated.</p><p>He was wearing the bio-mask again and he had seen the flowers in the jar, that human was also courting Lex, that was for sure.</p><p>“He was my partner a long time ago, but we broke up. Now he wants us to… go out and talk” Lex explained, emphasizing 'a long time'</p><p>Scar shook his head, it was something unacceptable for his female to date any other male “No,” he said.</p><p>“It’s a human custom, to go out and talk when you don’t see a person for some time.”</p><p>Scar was not an idiot, he had detected the human's intentions since he entered the house “He wants to copulate with you” Scar said.</p><p>Lex blinked a few times, not believing what Scar was saying “What? No! Of course not.” Lex's cheeks flushed.</p><p>“He brought you a gift,” he said, referring to the bouquet of flowers.</p><p>“You also brought me a gift,” Lex said, putting her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. “Did you give it to me for that too?”</p><p>Scar just let out a long and embarrassed sigh, wrapped in clicks and trills “No... that means something else,” he replied.</p><p>Lex wasn't sure why she felt the need to calm down Scar. She did not owe him explanations, she did not have to give them, but the more she thought about it the more she felt that she should let her know that Fred was just a friend, a partner who perhaps in some other time could have meant everything to her, but now he was just part her past.</p><p>Lex put her hands on Scar's chest and raised her head to see him. “Don't worry, I’m just going to talk to him.”</p><p>“If you want to…” Scar didn't hide his condescension from him.</p><p>“Scar, I don't feel anything for Fred anymore.”</p><p>“And why do you have to go with him?” Scar questioned.</p><p>“I don’t know! I couldn't think of anything else, if I didn't accept, he wasn't going to leave so soon,” said Lex, Scar walked through the small room that smelled like Lex, a kind of perfume similar to the floral plants of his planet, it was intoxicating for him “Are you going to tell me what does the gift you gave me means?”</p><p>“It's nothing,” Scar said, controlling his own urges to take the brunette and maintaining, above all, his disgust for having seen the man. His good humor disappeared as well as the desire to explain the reason for his gift.</p><p>“Scar, I trust you. But I need you to trust me too, I'm never going to betray you.” Lex sat on the bed and put her hands to her face.</p><p>“I trust you, Lex,” Scar said after some time, he just hoped the man didn't try anything, or else something very bad was going to happen to him.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Confused feelings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks to ShinaWorld, Tg and angelaJaime for all their comments! They make me very happy! :)</p>
<p>Thanks to IanAlphaAxel, Panos77, ShinaWorld, lilitrania, angelaJaime, Gorgonpriestess, Ivee_Clover and the guest for the kudos! I’m glad you like it! </p>
<p>Thank you, MotherOfaDragonHatchling, for the bookmark!</p>
<p>I saw my statistics and although I cannot see the names, I want to thank the people who are as “user subscription”, as well as the subscriptions they have given me and all the bookmarks.<br/>Thanks for supporting this fanfic :)</p>
<p>Until next chapter! ;D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>During that week, their encounters became more frequent. At night, Scar was a ruthless killer and by day he would visit Lex or she would come to him. Amber noticed an evident change in her sister's attitude, as if her energy was more resplendent, as if that gray aura that had surrounded her for so long was beginning to disappear.</p>
<p>Back at the hardware store, Scar spoke to her about his planet with devotion and joy, and she listened attentively as she imagined all those landscapes: the immense forests, the deserts, she tried to visualize the image of Scar among all those other Yautja, maybe having fun there, maybe eating, chatting, humming…</p>
<p>She wondered if one day she could see his planet with her own eyes. Her curiosity grew every time he mentioned dangerous mountains, thick forests and deep oceans, she wanted nothing more than to explore them.</p>
<p>Despite this, what impressed her most was learning of the existence of a small colony of humans. They were considered strong warriors, for they had earned the respect of the Yautja and were called <em>Notables</em>. For various reasons, they came to that planet and now they had their own lives there.</p>
<p>Lex told him about her life, about her expeditions, about her way of life, she told him about the highest mountain on Earth and with a vaguely conceited and proud air she told him that she had been the first person to climb it. She also told him about her sister and nephews.</p>
<p>“What about your family?” Lex asked.</p>
<p>“My brothers died in the Pyramid,” Scar said. Lex had no idea that the other two fierce predators had shared blood ties with Scar.</p>
<p>“Oh… I'm so sorry, it must have been painful for you to lose them.” There was no clear way to express condolences, the words sometimes turned out to be the wrong ones and that’s why Lex only decided to show her understanding of him.</p>
<p>Scar hadn't even stopped to mourn the death of his siblings for fear of being considered weak “I miss them. Returning without them was...” he stopped mid-sentence, he didn't want to look weak in front of Lex.</p>
<p>“You can tell me, if you want,” she knew well the pain caused by the loss of a loved one, “I lost my father some time ago and I know that is very hard.”</p>
<p>“It's empty,” Scar began, during that time he hadn’t touch the subject, not even with his father, since the predators that died inglorious in the hunts were easily forgotten. When he was younger, that idea sounded conflicting “It's hard to accept that you're never going to see them again and that space stays always empty.”</p>
<p>Lex got up from the boxes she had been sitting on and walked the few meters that separated her from Scar. He was sitting on some old wooden bars and it was easy for her to reach his face “As long as we remember them, they’ll always be with us.</p>
<p>On Scar's planet there were only two options: either you are strong and you become an honorable hunter or you are weak and you die, therefore, he hadn’t expected Lex to understand him, to give him some consoling words. It was so strange for him, how humans deal with loss and how they keep their dead with them, present in their minds and hearts.</p>
<p>“Thanks, Lex.” He could take that learning with him, it was something he didn't know he needed to hear and it made him feel good.</p>
<p>“You're welcome.” Lex stroked his face, brushing his jaws a little.</p>
<p>For a moment, Scar forgot about Wolf, his scolding and warnings, he forgot that Lex was a human. In fact, he didn't care in the slightest. He wanted her.</p>
<p>“Any warrior would want to be with you. If we were on my planet, more than one would dare to claim you as his female...”</p>
<p>Lex imagined all those predators fighting for her hand. It was a funny and bizarre idea. “I think I'd rather decide for myself.”</p>
<p>“I just earned that right,” Scar said.</p>
<p>“About what?”</p>
<p>“I can choose the female I want,” said the predator.</p>
<p>“What if they don't want you?” Lex mocked, she narrowed her eyes.</p>
<p>“I think the female I chose does wants me,” he said, Lex felt her face burn, the predator's eyes fixed on her, on her legs, on the curves of her body and on her hips. This made her wonder again about her feelings. Did she want him? She saw his abdomen, his muscles and his strong arms, how would that different skin feel on her naked body? Lex was taken aback by her own thought and her face turned to a new shade of crimson.</p>
<p>It wasn’t possible that she was attracted to someone who was so different from her and yet her heart had a serious debate between running into Scar's arms and letting things flow or changing the subject now and think about things more calmly in the comfort of her own home.</p>
<p>She chose the second option.</p>
<p>“You just passed your maturity ritual and you already want to start a family.”</p>
<p>To Lex's relief, Scar decided to pursue the topic “Not exactly… I must first get more trophies to ensure a good place in my society and then the next step would be to start a family.”</p>
<p>More than once he had shown interest in her, as well as his respect and admiration. Why else was he insisting on spending time with her? He might as well could be hunting but he had preferred to stay by her side and ignore his instincts for the sake of her comfort. Lex valued that, she knew that Scar's world revolved around obtaining power and trophies and surely he was the first and perhaps the only predator in all of Yautja history who rejected a hunt because of a human. Scar just hoped his superiors would never suspect of that or he would get into serious trouble.</p>
<p>“I think I should go,” Lex said, if she kept digging in that hole, she would soon find herself in a situation that wouldn’t be so easy to get out of.</p>
<p>And that same afternoon she had her –almost forced- date with Fred.</p>
<p>“Sure, with the human. I know you feel more comfortable with him “ Scar got up and left the hardware store, Lex went after him, she could hear his snapping words, which were surely rude in his own language.</p>
<p>“No, that isn’t true. I feel good with you,” said Lex, Scar put on his biomask. “But I don't think you can stay on Earth, can you?”</p>
<p>“No.” Scar answered.</p>
<p>“And you're a predator and I'm a human…” Scar looked at her carefully, the next thing she said would set the course for their relationship. “How would something like this work?”</p>
<p>He activated his camouflage, pressing the controls on his armband. Like her, his feelings were confused, he had no doubts about what he felt, but Wolf's words echoed in his head. Being with a human was forbidden.</p>
<p>Scar left without answering.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lex returned to Amber's house and prepared to go out with Fred.</p>
<p>Even though Scar was aware of everything, Lex regretted the little argument and had a guilty feeling for dating someone else... which made her to constantly repeat herself that she wasn’t doing anything wrong, after all, she would only chat with Fred.</p>
<p>She hadn't been talking to the predator for long, but she strangely felt more attached to him than she would have liked... and she was beginning to recognize her own emotions. A phrase of her mother’s ran through her mind: time is short when it comes to falling in love. In other words, people didn't need that long to fall in love, just a few moments with the right person were enough to give in. And she was already giving in.</p>
<p>She grabbed the black strapless dress that she had bought days ago along with Amber and some low-top sneakers of the same color. She let her hair hang down on her shoulders, and put on little makeup.</p>
<p>Fred arrived at 7 o'clock and after that he drove her to a rather expensive looking two-story restaurant in the center of town. He ordered one of the tables on the second floor, near a huge window.</p>
<p>From the table, the tips of the buildings standing out in the sky could be appreciated and they gave the impression that they were dining in the air. Lex loved the place and Fred smirked.</p>
<p>“My dad was also a cop. Now he's retired, but in his time he was the best,” Fred said, the conversation had taken different directions, they both had many things to share after so many years of not seeing each other.</p>
<p>“I think we both decided to take the example of our parents.”</p>
<p>“Not exactly, my father was the best doing his job but he wasn't the best father in the world. I admire him for his achievements in his career, but as a father he left much to be desired. He was never home and eventually divorced my mom.”</p>
<p>“Sometimes things just don't work out, but that doesn't mean it's not painful,” said Lex, Fred couldn't stop seeing the woman's full vermilion lips, nor her piercing brown eyes. He decided to put his hand on her wrist.</p>
<p>“Lex, you've always struck me as an extraordinary woman.”</p>
<p>Lex removed her hand from the man's grasp and sipped some wine. “And you've always been a good man.”</p>
<p>“Just a good man?” Fred questioned.</p>
<p>“Fred, I didn't leave you, you decided to break up with me.” Lex supported her arms on the table and intertwined her fingers. The man took a sip of wine and cleared his throat.</p>
<p>“I thought it was an agreement, we both thought distance wouldn't work.” The separation had hurt a lot and although sometimes Fred tried to contact her, he was never lucky.</p>
<p>“And now you're looking for me and flirting with me, what do you really want?” Lex looked into his eyes and waited for his answer.</p>
<p>Fred slid a small square gold box across the table “I want <em>you</em>”</p>
<p>“Fred... I... I don't feel the same anymore.”</p>
<p>Fred opened the box, it had a beautiful silver bracelet with a bright purple jewel “Give me your hand.”</p>
<p>“I can't take it. You said we would just chat as friends.”</p>
<p>The man stretched out his hand. “Then at least accept this.”</p>
<p>“I don't want to hurt you,” said Lex, Fred clasped the bracelet on Lex's right hand.</p>
<p>“I know” Fred tenderly caressed the soft hand “Lex, whatever happens, I want you to know that I want to be with you, I want us to start over, we are no longer children and we have both made our dreams come true, it’s time for us to think about the future... maybe not now, but if we keep going out I think we can resume what we started” said Fred, Lex turned her gaze to the large glass window. A long time ago the idea of sharing her life with Fred would have seemed wonderful to her and several times she had imagined starting a family with him. But now it was different.</p>
<p>The Moon began to appear in the sky, round and colossal. There was no trace of clouds and Lex looked up, as if that allowed her to get away from Fred for a moment.</p>
<p>“Hunter's Moon...” Lex whispered, still in Fred's pleasant company, thinking of Scar.</p>
<p>“What?” Fred questioned, he tried to resume the conversation but Lex stepped forward and pointed at the Moon with his hand.</p>
<p>“Some people call that Moon ‘The Hunter's Moon’.”</p>
<p>“The full moon?” Fred questioned, he wasn’t interested in the moon at all, he just wanted to take up the other topic with Lex, but she seemed too determined not to.</p>
<p>“Yes, isn't it incredible?” Lex asked, all her life she had been surrounded by scientists and people with an adventurous spirit, like Sebastian, who had been the narrator of the history of hunters and a great companion in those few moments that shared together.</p>
<p>Fred laughed “The townspeople make up a lot of stories.”</p>
<p>Lex frowned “There are stories that are real, some people tell legends about hunters capable of killing any prey, arriving with the full moon.”</p>
<p>“And have you ever seen those hunters?”</p>
<p>“No,” Lex said quickly, Fred raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“It's funny... 10 years ago, when I was 24 years old and a recent graduate ... in Los Angeles, an idiot murdered many people, it was considered by many as a psychotic hero because it always chose murderers or criminal groups and people named it ‘the hunter of the city’. ” Fred looked at the moon, then returned his gaze to Lex.</p>
<p>“And how did he murder them?” asked Lex curiously, Fred hesitated a bit, he thought that was a terrible topic to talk about during dinner, but Lex was so interested that he decided to extend the conversation a little longer, at least that way he would get what he wanted.</p>
<p>“Well... it always hung them upside down and left them skinned,” said Fred, Lex thought of the man he had seen in the neighborhood months ago. Scar had said that the person responsible had been another Yautja, was it possible that the hunter of the city was also a Yautja? It was too much of a coincidence, but fate had already shown how small the world was.</p>
<p>“I’m guessing they managed to catch him,” Lex said.</p>
<p>“My father got it,” said Fred, she wanted Lex to drop the subject, but she was far from doing so. He didn't want to accept how involved she was.</p>
<p>“And what was he like?”</p>
<p>“The damn killer? You won't believe me if I tell you...”</p>
<p>“I'll try,” Lex said, her curiosity growing by the second.</p>
<p>“It was a monster, a being from another world, an alien,” said Fred in a low voice, Lex's eyes widened, she took a sip from the wine glass. She didn't laugh at Fred for 'teasing' her, she didn't deny the monster's existence and she didn't seem offended or surprised, it was as if she accepted the words as the simple truth.</p>
<p>That was the reaction Fred had expected to see.</p>
<p>“My father told me that when he finally ended its life, he felt an incomprehensible peace... that thing had killed his friends, it was goddamned son of a bitch.” Fred also took a sip from the glass of wine.</p>
<p>“Stop lying to me, Fred,” demanded Lex. She tried to regain her composure and correct her previous position, but it was too late. “Maybe he was just a psychopath, I don't think he's an alien. I can't believe you think I'm going to believe that.”</p>
<p>A hint of guilt entered her right in the chest. She knew that Scar could be tremendously adorable to her and a ruthless killer to others.</p>
<p>She remembered the death sack and a chill ran through her body, she was quite stunned by Fred's revelation.</p>
<p>“It's true, sometimes I've even felt watched, but I think it's just part of the collective paranoia.” Fred gave a half smile.</p>
<p>“Do you really think all those murders were done by an alien?” Lex stared at him insistently and incredulously.</p>
<p>“I'm sure.” The man's gaze turned serious. “In these days we’ve found some dead men, everyone in the police department is going crazy and we believe that the way the deaths occurred are similar to that of the murderer of Los Angeles… or even worse,” explained Fred.</p>
<p>Lex couldn't believe what her ears were hearing, 《But Scar told me that…》 she thought. She looked at her plate, she had ordered a salad with a kind of red dressing, this made her remember the blood spilled in the Pyramid and soon the image of Scar also appeared in her thoughts.</p>
<p>“It's not possible…”</p>
<p>“We already detected them and we are going to hunt them down.” Fred's voice conveyed security, he hated those murderers and he would give anything to see them all dead. “We are going to give them back a little of what they have done.”</p>
<p>Lex felt a sharp pain in her chest, she had to warn Scar, she had to go fast with him!</p>
<p>“I have to go, sorry Fred,” Lex apologized without much thought, she got up from his seat and took his handbag.</p>
<p>“Right now?” asked Fred, Lex looked as if she wanted to jump out the window and continue running. “I didn't want to scare you, I know the conversation wasn't appropriate but...”</p>
<p>“No,” Lex interrupted, “It's not your fault. You've been very kind, but I just remembered something and I really need to go, sorry.”</p>
<p>“Lex, wait! You shouldn't be afraid, the situation is under control, I'm going to take care of you. Those hunters won't hurt you, I promise,” Fred said in a last futile attempt to convince Lex to stay a while longer. It was impossible, even if he threatened not to accompany her back to her house, the brunette would leave any way.</p>
<p>During the trip, Lex was silent most of the time. Fred blamed himself, he believed that he had scared Lex away by telling her about the terrible murders that were taking place in the city, but it was the only way to observe her reaction.</p>
<p>When he dropped the brunette off at her house, he made a call: “It's done.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lex cursed because the hardware store was too far away, asked Amber for the car and drove fast until she finally made it.</p>
<p>Scar observed the gray car park in front of the hardware store, watching the woman get out and walk to the door. He went out the back door and activated the camouflage of his armor.</p>
<p> “Scar!” yelled Lex. “I know you're there.”</p>
<p>Lex didn’t observe anyone inside. She went around the hardware store, the darkness of the night and the low light preventing her from appreciating the landscape clearly, but she didn’t want to give up. Could it be that they have already captured him? Her eyes clouded just imagining it “Scar! Please!”</p>
<p>The warrior watched her carefully, was she crying? He forgot his game of hiding from her and deactivated his camouflage. “Lex!” he said, she ran to him.</p>
<p>“You're okay?” She said and hugged him, Scar held her by the shoulders.</p>
<p>“Did he hurt you!?” He was very worried and soon his voice was distorted by the anger that emerged from him “That human is going to pay for...!”</p>
<p>“No,” Lex interrupted, “They already know about you, about the hunters, you must go.”</p>
<p>Scar separated from Lex, his biomask detected a signal coming from her bracelet, it was like a flashing light that could only be seen under infrared “Who gave you that?” He asked.</p>
<p>“He gave it to me,” Lex said.</p>
<p>“It’s a tracker,” Scar said, he felt offended and humiliated. He trusted her and now everything was falling apart.</p>
<p>Lex removed the bracelet and tossed it away.</p>
<p>“I can't believe it,” Lex said, cursing in her mind. All that time, did Fred know about her contact with predators? He used her to get to them! He vilely deceived her and now she had led them to the exact location.</p>
<p>“Why?” Scar asked, his mind dealing with a storm. Maybe his superiors were right, humans were just simple prey, in which you couldn’t place your trust.</p>
<p>“No, I didn't know about this, I swear to you…”</p>
<p>“I trusted you!” Scar roared.</p>
<p>A huge lump began to form in Lex's throat. “I haven't betrayed you! You have to believe me, you must go away.”</p>
<p>Scar went inside the hardware store, Lex followed him. No one was coming yet, but she knew they were close, people would not miss the opportunity to capture a Yautja specimen. Scar paced back and forth, snorting in anger and making clicks and other kinds of grunts.</p>
<p>“I just want to know something, just answer me this and I'm not going to bother you anymore.” Lex began, she was afraid this was goodbye, but Scar's attitude just let her see that it was possibly so “Was it you who has been hunting in the city?”</p>
<p>Scar was silent, looked out the broken window and ignored Lex's words.</p>
<p>“You told me you weren't going to hunt here anymore, why did you do it?”</p>
<p>Scar knew it was enough and he took the woman by the arm with enough force to cause painful marks “Is it because of that human? Is he the one who has turned you against me?” Scar asked, he remembered the face of the man who had gone out with Lex and he could no longer think clearly, he just wanted to kill him and he no longer even cared to enjoy the hunt. He would kill him cruelly and painfully, of that he was sure.</p>
<p>“What are you talking about? I'm not against you!” exclaimed Lex, she had a mixture of emotions, she felt nervous and scared. She tried to pull her hand away from Scar's tight grip, but the struggle was only making his grip more painful.</p>
<p>Scar applied more force around the small arm, Lex felt her heart leap from her chest, she thought that maybe she had managed to piss him off enough and now she feared for her life.</p>
<p>“It doesn't look like it!” Scar didn't understand the meaning of the word jealousy, but that was exactly what he was feeling. A mixture of jealousy and resentment because now the humans knew of his existence and all because of the bastard who was courting his Lex.</p>
<p>“Y-you're hurting me,” Lex whispered, Scar released her arm, finally aware of his own strength.</p>
<p>“I never…” Scar said, Lex looked at the reddish marks he had made on her. “… I'm sorry.”</p>
<p>Lex was silent and Scar removed his biomask, he looked so miserable and sorry. He had seen the fear in Lex's eyes, a fear mixed with anger and despair, something that he had caused himself, when it had never been his intention to hurt her, he was just frustrated.</p>
<p>For him it had only been a simple grip, but for her it was a very painful one.</p>
<p>“You have to control that shitty temper,” Lex reproached him and rubbed her wrist a little.</p>
<p>Scar didn't know that any other Yautja were hunting in the same area as him, and Lake was completely out of the question. They had both gone to the neighboring city. “I have not hunted in this place.” he said.</p>
<p>“And what is happening? Was it your partner?”</p>
<p>“No, I moved the hunt and that included Lake.”</p>
<p>Lex felt guilty for having mistrusted him, but was unaware of the fact that there were more than two hunters in the city. “See? You just had to tell me that, instead of acting like a violent madman.”</p>
<p>Scar growled in annoyance “And now those humans are following me because of the tracker they put on you.”</p>
<p>A low blow.</p>
<p>“How was I supposed to know? It's real life, not a spy series.”</p>
<p>“Spy series?” Scar asked.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter! You have to go now.”</p>
<p>Scar rolled his eyes in a human and apparently universal gesture that denoted annoyance. “Your human wants to hunt me down and I'm going to kill him and everyone who comes.”</p>
<p>“You're not serious.” Lex felt distraught.</p>
<p>“I've been hunting him, I didn't kill him before because you asked me to move the hunt” Scar's voice sounded hurt, he averted his gaze from the woman and put on his biomask.</p>
<p>Another discussion...</p>
<p>Lex put her hands on her hips and stood in front of him “And why is it different now?” Scar had no real explanation, it was all limited to his hatred for the man who had stolen Lex's attention. “Don’t you understand it?  THEY WANT TO CAPTURE YOU!”</p>
<p>Scar smiled at the idea of facing all those possibly armed humans, the adrenaline coursing through his body, he already wanted them to come. Instead, Lex was terrified, she knew her own species, she knew what certain humans were capable of and the evil that inhabited them, she was sure that they would spare no effort, they would come with a whole arsenal of weapons.</p>
<p>A shadow blocked for a moment the faint moonlight that filtered through the window, Scar knew it immediately, he looked at Lex for a brief moment and then he went to the door. “What the hell...” said Lex.</p>
<p>Scar held Lake, he was supposed to take hours to get back, but his haggard look was the cause. He had several wounds on his right side and neck, his phosphorescent green blood trailing from the door to a dusty corner.</p>
<p>Scar helped him sit on the floor.</p>
<p><em>“What happened!?”</em> Scar questioned in his own language, Lex approached, but he motioned for her to remain in her place.</p>
<p><em>“They're here, they tried to catch me, I had to run.”</em> Lake felt quite ashamed, humiliated and in pain.</p>
<p><em>“Who?”</em> Scar asked, he didn’t believe that humans were capable of inflicting such injuries on his partner.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Falconer and Tracker”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“It's not possible, the elite were chasing them.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“Well, they got away,”</em> Lake said, grabbed his side and leaned against some old boxes.</p>
<p>“Scar, what's going on?” Lex asked.</p>
<p>“Two Bad Bloods attacked Lake,” Scar said, even with the bio mask on, Lex could manage to notice his concern.</p>
<p>Lex began to breathe with difficulty, on the one hand the humans came and on the other, <em>The Bad Bloods.</em></p>
<p>And she was in the middle of both.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Crossfire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them; this fanfic is just for fun.</p>
<p>Thanks to Frida521! :D</p>
<p>Thank you Mar for your comment! :)<br/>I want to thank Lady_Trevelyan84, Lylesa, autobotphoenix , Fan_Multiship and guest for the kudos! <br/>Thank you Blackacidrayne for the bookmark!!</p>
<p>I’ve almost seven hundred hits! I don’t believe it!! I’m very excited, thank you all :D you’re awesome!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>Lake took off his biomask, it had a claw mark that crossed the entire surface diagonally, it was broken from the upper part that covered his forehead and it no longer helped him much; he sat on the floor with his back leaning against the wall, breathing rapidly, his adrenaline had not completely diminished.</p>
<p>He detached his Medicomp from his back to start treating his own injuries, turning his head a little and widening his eyes in surprise. He saw that Lex followed every action he did with her own gaze and he didn’t like being observed. The woman didn’t hide her curiosity at any time and that angered him, he looked back at Scar, his eyes transmitting his confusion.</p>
<p>There were very few humans who knew about the existence of the Yautja <em>“What is this ooman doing here?”</em> asked Lake.</p>
<p><em>“She is the Notable… the warrior who helped me defeat the Queen Alien</em>.”</p>
<p>Lex couldn’t even understand the strange language, it was a sequence of short or long clicks together with other guttural sounds, but she knew they were talking about her because they looked at her and returned to whisper among themselves. Her common sense told her that it was best if she didn’t move, because she didn’t know how the other predator would react, but she advanced a couple of steps anyway. Seeing Lake dying on the ground reminded her too much of Scar on the ice.</p>
<p>“What can I do?” Lex questioned.</p>
<p>“Just stay there,” Scar said.</p>
<p>Lake widened his eyes<em>. “So... Did you only learn that rare language to speak to her?” </em>Lake inquired. <em>“I can’t believe it...”</em> Scar's silence fueled Lake's suspicions.</p>
<p><em>“Do you think that's important now?”</em> asked Scar.</p>
<p><em>“It is if it endangers our existence.”</em> Lake could not believe it, he knew that the ancients only taught those strange languages to certain Yautja that presented some determining reasons, and he highly doubted Scar would use the language to speak with humans other than the woman of the mark. For what other reason would she know about the predators' hideout? <em>“Do they know that you keep seeing her?”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“She has the mark of the clan, no Yautja can hunt her.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“That's not what I asked…”</em> Lake squirmed in agony as he poured the green salve onto his side. He grabbed a pair of tweezers that had its edges curved inward, digging them and placing them on the wound to force the flesh to close. The pressure on his sore skin made him let out a loud scream.</p>
<p>It was then that Scar realized that if the other predators had fought in earnest, his pesky companion would be dead.</p>
<p><em>“Tell me how they hurt you…”</em> Scar ordered.</p>
<p>
  <em>“They just cut and beat me and when they were about to kill me, they threw me to the ground and started all over again. But it was just Tracker and Falconer... I don't know where the hell Berserker is.”</em>
</p>
<p>“Scar, you must go.” Lex had had enough of standing on the sidelines.</p>
<p>Lake looked at her with contempt. Who did this human think she was to interrupt them? She had the mark of the clan, but not even the other notables dared to speak so deliberately in front of predators. <em>“What did she say?” </em>Lake asked, rising from the ground.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Some oomans are coming here.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Damn, how did they find out we're here?”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“With a tracker.”</em> Scar answered, without the slightest intention of continuing to speak with his partner.</p>
<p><em>“How did you let them put a tracker on you?”</em> Lake scoffed, even in agony still retaining his sense of humor.</p>
<p><em>“They didn't put it on me,”</em> Scar growled, his sounds being more serious and angry.</p>
<p>
  <em>“So the notable brought them here. You should get rid of her.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“She deserves my trust, someone tricked her.” </em>Scar raised an arm diagonally, partially covering Lex in a sign of protection.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Don't tell me that you and her-”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“It's not what you think,” </em>Scar said.</p>
<p>Lake kept looking at Lex, an interest being born in him. He had heard on his planet of the notable who helped Scar defeat a Queen Alien. The other human warriors living in Yautja Prime had obtained the respect of the Yautja society for getting rid of some <em>Xenomorphs</em> or other equally or less aggressive prey. But none of them could boast of having hunted an Alien Queen without receiving any injuries.</p>
<p>When Scar arrived and his injuries were treated, he had described Lex as a woman with the spirit of a brave warrior and with the force of the nature, thus Lake had imagined a taller woman, perhaps muscular, with a fierce aspect. Instead, Lex seemed so small and dainty <em>“So she's The famous Notable.”</em></p>
<p><em>“Yes, and stop looking at her like you want to hunt her down.”</em> Scar exclaimed. Lex noted how the predator tensed.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Even few Yautja females are capable of such a feat... I'd like to know how strong the pups of this ooman female will be, if I make her mine.”</em>
</p>
<p>Scar could no longer contain himself and lunged towards Lake, the latter tried to move away, backing off, but it was already too late and they both fell to the ground, raising a lot of dust and cobwebs around them. With one hand Scar grabbed him tightly around his neck, immobilizing him completely and bringing the blades of his wristband close to his face in his other side. Lake tried to defend himself against him, but one wrong move could make his partner go right through him.</p>
<p><em>“Don't you dare talk about her like that, she's mine!”</em> Scar roared.</p>
<p>“Stop it!” Lex yelled, what they needed the least was a fight. “You're going to kill each other before the Bad Bloods attack you!”</p>
<p>Scar separated himself from Lake.</p>
<p><em>“She’s yours? What the hell does that mean</em>?” Lake huffed; he pushed Scar away and got up. His wounds still hurt and the attack had only opened the cuts even more.</p>
<p>
  <em>“It means I'll kill you if you go near her.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“I can't believe it. Do you know what consequences this will have for you? Why do you dare to attack your own race for her?</em> <em>Wake up, Scar!”</em> Lake pointed at Lex with a fast and furious gesture. <em>“Even I know this isn't right. And now those oomans are coming because of her!”</em></p>
<p>Scar roared fiercely, Lex thought that he would attack Lake again.</p>
<p><em>“She's not just any ooman. She's a notable.”</em> Scar hated to admit it, but Lake was right. Lex showed the humans the exact place where they were hiding, and suddenly he felt between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand there was his clan, which he knew would never approve of the union between a human and a Yautja. It was something they considered dishonorable. Wolf had been pretty clear on that.</p>
<p>Lake hesitated a bit to continue, but in the end he finished speaking. <em>“She is your slave,”</em> he ventured to say; he thought that Scar only wanted the little human to warm him during the cold Earth nights.</p>
<p>Scar wished his eyes would incinerate his partner.</p>
<p>
  <em>“She IS NOT my slave.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“And what is she then? Why is she here? In our hiding place, with you, alone at night?”</em> his jaws curled as if forming a mocking smile <em>“Is you’re your sexual pa-”</em></p>
<p>“Scar, can you stop acting like nothing's wrong for just a minute? You and your partner must get out of here, right now.” Lex took him by the arm and Lake was able to confirm his suspicions.</p>
<p>He had known his partner for a few years, when he passed the maturity test on a distant and remote planet, becoming hunting partners shortly after. He knew that the attitude that Scar showed now was very different from how it used to be in Yautja Prime. It could be considered an insult to grab a Yautja to demand answers; it was a gesture full of complete recklessness.</p>
<p>And Lex didn't understand Scar's outburst towards Lake, she could only see that now, both predators were silent as they shared looks of contempt.</p>
<p>“I'm not running away from a hunt,” Scar said after a while and broke away from Lex's grasp.</p>
<p>“I can't believe it.”  Lex felt outraged and glared at him, talking to the warrior was like talking to a heavy and massive killer rock. “And would you rather die? Isn't it better to get safe now and avoid a pointless fight?”</p>
<p>“It's always better to die honorably than to run away,” Scar assured and with those words, everything became clearer for Lex. Scar was not going to leave, he didn’t mind dying, and his pride and his habits prevented him from even thinking about abandoning any fight.</p>
<p>Lake went to the other side of the hardware store, took hold of his abdomen and began to spit green blood. From one moment to another he fell on his knees to the ground and a look of pain appeared on his face. He slightly unfolded his jaws and closed his eyes <em>“Damn…”</em></p>
<p>Scar approached his partner. <em>“What is it?”</em> he questioned, Lex leaned a bit closer, but stayed behind Scar.</p>
<p>Lake lifted the part of the armor that covered his abdomen; he had a piece of metal embedded in his skin. <em>“Those bastards took off my armor and then… they nailed this thing to me.</em>” The pain was unbearable and he wanted to hide it from Scar out of shame, he had enough with the humiliation that the other two predators had caused him and the least he wanted was to bear the gaze of his partner.</p>
<p>He didn't want Scar to feel sorry for him.</p>
<p>Scar roared as he shook his head. <em>“It's just the tip of a spear, why don't you take it out and stop crying?”</em></p>
<p><em>“You think I haven't tried that? I try to pull it out, but every time I try, it digs deeper,”</em> Lake declared, every tiny movement causing the point to sink into his skin.</p>
<p>Scar helped Lake remove his armor, took some Medicomp clamps from him while he grunted, and held them up to the hole in Lake's abdomen “<em>No! Don’t do that!”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“I need to get the tweezers in. These things are special for that.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“I know that! I'm not an idiot”</em> Lake yelled in a fit of anger and frustration. He snatched the tweezers from Scar and put them on the <em>ground “The metal of the tweezers makes the point of the spear stick in harder and I can't get it out with my hand.”</em></p>
<p>Scar looked at his hands, his claws would only worsen the situation, they would reach the skin of his partner Yautja but they would open the painful wound more.</p>
<p>“Can I help?” Lex asked, she felt pity for Lake, she didn't understand anything but it was obvious that he was suffering.</p>
<p>“Let him suffer,” Scar said, he would help him but first he would let him writhe in pain for a bit. He sat in a corner, opposite to Lake's.</p>
<p>Lex watched from the broken window that a large truck pulled up about a hundred feet from the hardware store, along with some military vans.</p>
<p>“They're here! There’s no time!” Lex exclaimed, she turned to them, panicked.</p>
<p>Scar sighed, things had gotten complicated. He looked at the small hands of the woman <em>“Lex wants to help you”</em> Scar said, Lake tilted his head towards his abdomen, looked at Lex and then at Scar.</p>
<p>Lake didn't have much choice; he could either stay there, writhing in pain and risk the humans killing him or accept her help. <em>“Tell her to be quick.”</em></p>
<p>“Lex, you have to get out the point of the spear with your hands,” Scar explained, Lex swallowed and the predator took Lake's hands, placing them above his head to prevent any accidental movement from hurting Lex.</p>
<p>She brought the tips of her fingers to the hardened skin. She had already treated wounds before when leading expeditions, so she tried to concentrate and imagine that this wasn’t so different. Lake was an alien, a murderer, but he too could bleed and that made him as mortal as she was. “Almost there!” Lex exclaimed, Lake's skin felt hot and rough, as if it were a reptile. She scolded herself when she ended up thinking about Scar.</p>
<p> “They're getting closer,” Scar warned, the humans getting closer and closer.</p>
<p>Lake twisted in pain and began to roar like he was a wounded lion. <em>“Shit!”</em> he exclaimed, letting a string of curses flow from his mouth. Lex's hands were filled with the thick Yautja blood, as well as her dress and her legs. Finally, she felt the tip of the spear and pulled hard to get it completely out.</p>
<p>It was long and sharp, like a small metal spear and had a tiny black square that emitted a flashing red light.</p>
<p>Scar asked Lex for the tip and broke it with his hand <em>“It's a tracking device. You're useless, Lake.” </em>The Bad Bloods wanted Lake to run away and then to track him down and kill him. It was all a game.</p>
<p><em>“I was tricked, just like your slave,”</em> Lake said indignantly.</p>
<p>“What is it?” Lex questioned, cursing internally for not understanding the Yautja language.</p>
<p>“The Bad bloods are tracking this useless one.”</p>
<p><em>“I don't even know how to speak that language, but I know when someone is insulting me,”</em> Lake complained.</p>
<p>The situation was more serious than Scar could imagine, the humans were no longer important, with the Bad Bloods there, it would be a complete massacre. Lake got up from the ground and put on his broken bi-mask.</p>
<p>Lex looked at Scar, every day she discovered something new about him. There he was, in silence, without the remotest sign of fear. All of a sudden, she remembered him in the pyramid, she was almost sure that all in all he had enjoyed that hunt and she didn't think that was any different now.</p>
<p>The sound of a machine gun began to sound throughout the place, starting to fire. Scar took Lex's hand as if he sensed her fear.</p>
<p>“They are shooting at us!” Lex exclaimed, she apparently was the only one alarmed.</p>
<p>Scar looked through the window, his bio-mask allowed him to observe the heat sign of two huge figures invisible to human eyes. “Not at us.” He said.</p>
<p>Lex poked her head just to watch something grabbing a man's neck and pulled away the base of his spine without remorse, fully detaching it and roaring afterward. Lex thought she’d vomit so she squeezed Scar's hand a bit harder while he held her hand in a firmer grip, preventing her from running. Lex appreciated that it was so.</p>
<p>The humans, certain that the predators inside the hardware store were the two specimens they were looking for, didn’t expect the Bad Bloods’ attack.</p>
<p>“God, no…” Lex looked around; searching for a place to hide or a secret exit, but other than dust, there was nothing else inside the hardware store. Everyone was being horribly dismembered; she wanted to run, she wanted to scream, she was terrified.</p>
<p><em>“Shit, they’re taking all the prey again,”</em> Lake said, <em>that</em> was his biggest concern.</p>
<p>Scar released Lex and activated the control of his wrist to adjust the caliber of his plasma cannon.</p>
<p>“What do we do?” She asked, her gaze conveying her terror, Lake also looked in her direction.</p>
<p>Scar felt a combination of enthusiasm and courage. The Bad Bloods were classified as the worst in their society; they were the lowest and most dishonorable rung. Killing any of them would definitely raise his status like foam on Yautja Prime. Unfortunately, he was aware that he was unprepared for a combat against them. Berserker and Tracker had the strength and training of an elite Yautja and Falconer was on the level of a bleeding Yautja.</p>
<p>“We must kill them,” said Scar, the Bad Bloods put their hunts at risk; they didn't mind being seen by humans.</p>
<p>Lex was already expecting that answer. “Your partner is hurt. They outnumber you.”</p>
<p>Scar knew Lex was right, it wouldn't be an easy battle. The unfortunate humans were only in between, Tracker and Falconer were coming for Lake. “When they finish off those humans, they’ll come for us, we must attack them now.”</p>
<p><em>“Now can you say it in Yautja? Sure, if it's not too much trouble</em>...” Lake said wryly, walking somewhat inclined by the pain of his injuries.</p>
<p><em>“We must finish them off, we can't let them go,”</em> Scar said to Lake, then added in English, “You must go, Lex.”</p>
<p>Lex didn't want to leave Scar, not after seeing with her own eyes what those two crazy assassins were capable of.</p>
<p>“No, give me a gun.” she mused, despite her terror, she was willing to stay with him</p>
<p>“Lex, I have no weapons for you now.”</p>
<p>Lex's eyes flooded with helplessness “Well, do something, improvise a spear or whatever.”</p>
<p>As much as he wanted to fight by her side, Scar knew that it would be too risky for her. He didn’t want her to be hurt, he couldn’t bear the thought of something bad happening to her.</p>
<p>“I’ll look for you tomorrow” he said, and although his words sounded firm, they didn’t reassure Lex in the slightest, then he walked her to the back door.</p>
<p>The darkness was lit by powerful yellow and orange bursts; Lex watched the terrible spectacle: bodies lying, pools of blood everywhere, and blood curling screams. Only the full moon and themselves were the witnesses to that brutal massacre.</p>
<p>“Scar, please don't kill any more humans,” Lex said, Scar escorted her to her car, while the shots continued to ring and fire came from the cannons.</p>
<p>“I'm going to keep my word.” Scar caressed Lex's face as gently as he could.</p>
<p>Lex raised her head to look at the large and expressive yellow eyes of the predator, so many feelings swirled in her chest, so many things came to her mind “I just want you to know that…” the roar of a bomb sounded behind them, Lex’s voice turned shaky. “I trust in your strength and that you'll be fine.”</p>
<p>Scar tilted his head away from her and pulled his hand away from Lex's face.</p>
<p>What she had said was not what he wanted to hear, or what she wanted to say, but it was what he needed.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. The sound of water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>WARNING: This chapter contains VERY detailed descriptions of violence and cursing, if you do not like reading this kind of content, in the next one I’ll put a small summary with the most relevant stuff that happened :)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them; this fanfic is just for fun.</p>
<p>*Thanks to Frida521! </p>
<p>Thank you litebrite, DecepticonHuntress, Milady_de_Winter and the guest for all your kudos!</p>
<p>Thank you Decepticon Huntress for the bookmark! :)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your bookmarks, kudos and hits!</p>
<p>I hope you like this fanfic :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>Lex watched Scar's silhouette disappear into the darkness; she hated to leave him, but she couldn't do anything for him and staying there would only cause more trouble or hinder the predators' actions. She accelerated full throttle to get away as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>She was sure that the unexpected situation would bring consequences, so many dead humans, so much blood and destruction… everything was like a circle of bad luck, where one action led to another and another and everything went wrong. Her heart was already accepting that she liked Scar, as weird and crazy as it may sound, she felt something for him.</p>
<p>She still didn't know if it was love, maybe time would take care of ordering her thoughts.</p>
<p>The roar of the weapons continued to be heard in her ears along with the bloodcurdling screams of the men. She wanted to go back to days ago where everything seemed to be so simple, with Scar talking to her about his customs and her talking to him about her own life.</p>
<p>Yet something inside Lex told her that this was how things would be if she chose that path. Scar was surrounded by death, blood, and wounds. Ritual hunting was the drive of predators, the reason for their existence; it was a piece of their own essence and it just attracted problems.</p>
<p>She already sensed that the storm was almost upon her and it was a matter of time before the bomb exploded, and she didn’t want that torrential rain full of problems to fall on her family, so she would leave and try to remove Fred and his horrible plans away from her and those she cared about. As for Scar, she would talk to him, maybe he couldn't stay on Earth forever, but she was willing to make this work.</p>
<p>She parked the car and a sharp pain was suddenly planted in her chest, as if she was short of air. With the dawning realization that something was wrong, she got out of the car, trying to find a good explanation or cause, but each idea made her more panicky.</p>
<p>At a first glance to the house, she observed the door ajar and fallen. All the lights were off, even the light in the kitchen. And Amber always left the kitchen light on.</p>
<p>Each step was more difficult than the last. She began to pray in a low voice, and although Lex had never been a believer, at that moment she really wished that if there really was a God, He would free her and her family from any evil.</p>
<p>When she stood in front of the door, she was already breathing with difficulty. “Amber?” She asked. She begged, prayed and wished that everything was part of her imagination and that her sister would answer she call.</p>
<p>She pressed the switch to turn on the room's light bulb and a gut wrenching scream tore out from her lips. All the chairs were splattered with blood and there was a big red trail on the floor as if something had dragged someone.</p>
<p>“No… no… AMBER!” Lex screamed, her eyes filled with tears. She couldn’t see Amber or the children anywhere and she just wanted to wake up from that nightmare.</p>
<p>She advanced through the house, the curtains were torn, scattered and abandoned on the floor and in the kitchen, the container where the knives were, was on the floor. She picked up a knife and held it tight in her hand; Amber had tried to defend herself.</p>
<p>Lex felt that as if her legs were dragging heavy chains that prevented her from moving forward. She took a breath when she approached Amber's room, the whole house was a disaster but from that place, a large red puddle leaked under the door.</p>
<p>“No… no…” Lex muttered, wishing with all her life this wasn't happening. She pushed open the door.</p>
<p>“Lex ... I can't see ...”</p>
<p>“AMBER!” Lex screamed, noting that her beloved sister had a long spear piercing her neck and holding her to the ground.</p>
<p>The spear was attached to her, it was her downfall and her agony and at the same time it had kept her alive. Lex knelt in front of her sister, crying profusely and with a completely broken heart. “The children…” Amber whispered in a barely audible voice.</p>
<p>“Who did this to you?” Lex was trying to understand why her sister had been hurt like that. Why her? She was unable to kill even a fly, she avoided fights, she was a calm and homey person. She didn’t deserve something like that and there was no way to save her life, her wounds were too many.</p>
<p>Her face was disfigured; a fierce blow had shattered her forehead, revealing a grotesque wound, her nose was somehow held to the right side of her face, barely supported by some pieces of remaining skin, her arms and legs had open and painful cuts that showed part of her muscles and nerves and were also broken. She was no longer Amber and it was a miracle that she was still alive; it was a miracle that her eyes were still open.</p>
<p>“A monster,” Amber whispered brokenly, from her eyes a mix of tears and blood started streaming down her face. Lex put her hand on her left arm, “I don't want to die...”</p>
<p>“No, you'll be fine, I'm going to help you,” Lex said, her own tears running free down her cheeks like a waterfall.</p>
<p>“Lex… Why?” Amber couldn't comprehend either why she had been attacked so viciously and brutally.</p>
<p>“Please not you… not you…”</p>
<p>Lex was covered in blood, her legs, her arms; she couldn't think rationally, she couldn't do anything!</p>
<p>“Take care of… the children,” Amber said in a desperate plea with the last of her strength.</p>
<p>“Amber... please...” Lex wasn't resigned to losing her, but she couldn't allow herself to be selfish. Her sister needed her; she needed to hear that her children would be fine so she could leave... forever. “I will, I promise you.”</p>
<p>Her eyes looked red and tired and her always happy look could only express fear and confusion when she felt the cold of death imprison her body. Lex caressed her sister's face and gently closed her wide, unseeing eyes</p>
<p>Lex got up shakily to pull the spear out, holding it and pulling while cursing as a stream of blood came out of Amber's neck. Lex was about to vomit, she couldn't bear the pain she was feeling.</p>
<p>She looked around the room, trying to find an explanation, her sister's body was lying in front of her: she panicked, she gasped, she screamed loudly, repeating, “This can't be happening”, she threw the damn spear with a movement full of fury and despair and then she passed her arms around Amber's sides and hugged her body tightly. She cried out loud and screamed her name, the helplessness she felt was such that she started to hit the ground until her knuckles reddened and her skin parted.</p>
<p>Then a noise came out of the closet. Lex looked up sharply. Her lips were trembling, her grief was unbearable. But she let go of her sister for a moment and approached the closet to open the doors.</p>
<p>“Mum,” Emma said, Lex held her face.</p>
<p>“Emma! Oh my God!” Lex's voice sounded disfigured by sadness.</p>
<p>Emma didn't respond, Lex hugged her and pulled her away from the cruel scene in front of her, leading her out of the room. She didn't want to leave Amber, but she had to find out what the hell had happened if she wanted to save her niece and nephew.</p>
<p>“Emma, where’s Daniel?” Lex asked, lowering her to the ground, the girl didn’t respond, she couldn’t react, her state of shock at having witnessed the death of her mother was holding her prisoner. Lex began to search the house, observing how the pantry opened a little and then closed again as if someone was hiding inside it.</p>
<p>“Daniel, it's me.” Lex opened the little wooden door.</p>
<p>“The devil killed mom,” Daniel said, his eyes looking nowhere. Lex tried to get him out, but Daniel started kicking.</p>
<p>“It’s okay, sweetie, it's me” Lex's voice came out choppy; Daniel gave in to his attacks and hugged her aunt.</p>
<p>“Mom’s dead,” Daniel murmured through tears.</p>
<p>Lex broke away from him. “I know, honey, but we can't stay here.”</p>
<p>Lex was soul-torn and disoriented, but she had to think clearly, she had to draw strength and will if she wanted to keep the children safe, she had to gather her courage and get them out of the house before her sister’s murderer returned. She ran into the children's rooms, pulled out clothes, and then ran into her own room, stuffed what she could into a gray backpack and slung it over her shoulders, then grabbed her ceremonial spear and extended it.</p>
<p>If necessary, she would defend the children with her own life.</p>
<p>Carrying Emma, the three of them left the house, leaving Amber behind her, along with a part of her. Without ceremonies, without flowers, there was no time for anything, the children didn’t even get to say <em>goodbye.</em></p>
<p>“Get in the car,” Lex ordered.</p>
<p>“Mom’s still there,” Daniel said.</p>
<p>Daniel and Emma climbed into the back seats, reluctantly fastening their seatbelts, their faces devastated with sadness and painted with confusion. Lex kept sobbing quietly, she couldn't believe what was happening, it all seemed so unreal. She wanted to wake up already!</p>
<p>“I don't wanna leave mom,” Daniel said, pointing to the house.</p>
<p>Lex got in the car, Emma was silent and Daniel was crying non-stop “Me neither” Lex said, her voice sounded shaky and sorrowful.</p>
<p>“THERE!” shouted Daniel “HE KILLED MOM!”</p>
<p>As Lex was starting the car, a huge figure under the roof of one of the houses across the street jumped out and stopped right in the middle of the street.</p>
<p>The hulking figure of a predator blocked the way. He kept his arms open, waiting for his opponent. His dreadlocks were between brown and red, his biomask was a dark red color and he didn’t have the metal part that covers the mouths of predators, instead having an embedded reptile jaw, which made him look more savage and fiercer. His skin had a dull greenish tint, with hard reddish scales.</p>
<p>He had been the cause of everything.</p>
<p>“Hold on!” Lex accelerated, the predator roared sinisterly and jumped just as he was about to be run over, she didn't stop and kept driving.</p>
<p>《I'm not going to fall in your game, you fucking bastard…》 thought Lex,</p>
<p>The impacts of the predator's weapon made themselves present. He didn’t hesitate to use his Plasmacaster and the rearview mirror fell to the ground, breaking instantly as Berserker continued firing, his instincts governed by violence and bloodlust.</p>
<p>“Shit!” Lex howled in pain when one of the shots shattered the rear window of the car and hit her left shoulder, she was about to hit a pole, but somehow managed to keep control and kept driving.</p>
<p>Berserker kept his ship above Lex's house, it was small and fast, ideal to move quickly if a certain prey managed to flee. He climbed up quickly the wall of the house and prepared for the chase.</p>
<p>Lex left the neighborhood, her shoulder bleeding, and as the children clung to the seats she drove through the streets hoping to reach the center and thus lose the predator.</p>
<p>“He's following us!” Daniel yelled.</p>
<p>“What the hell does that son of a bitch want!?” Lex wondered, her heart threatening to bounce off her chest, her hands shaking on the wheel.</p>
<p>After several eternal minutes she managed to reach an avenue. Emma and Daniel screamed while their aunt ventured to ignore each and every one of the traffic lights, “Damn it!” Lex exclaimed, from one moment to another, the car had started to move slower, gasoline going down just as her sanity.</p>
<p>And just that brief moment of distraction where she checked the gas level was enough for a small blue car to hit the left side of the car, making them turn and scream.</p>
<p>She looked at the children when she had finally managed to stop. “Are you okay!?” She shouted at them, both children were crying, the traffic had stopped, the night lights were shining brightly.</p>
<p>The driver of the other car opened his door but didn’t have the opportunity to get out as the colossal predator landed on his car’s hood and slammed his fist into the windshield, pulling the man out and throwing him away. Lex was terrified, the gas reserve had run out, and when she got away from the air bag and out of the car, she ran to her nephews, unbuckled their seat belts and took their hands.</p>
<p>People looked at the predator and at what was happening, a horrified fascination in their eyes. Berserker roared sinisterly, some took pictures, others ran, most reversed their cars, causing more crashes and a terrible road chaos. Those who couldn’t get out of the jam continued running on foot and Lex took advantage of the confusion to blend in the crowd.</p>
<p>“What do we do?” Emma cried, Lex didn't even feel the pain in her shoulder, the adrenaline made her run faster, forcing her nephews to accelerate their own steps.</p>
<p>“Run, run without stopping,” said Lex breathlessly.</p>
<p>Berserker located her using the perfect vision that his biomask possessed for the selection of close-range targets and ran after her, while unceremoniously shooting people who stood in his way.</p>
<p>“Get in there!” Lex ordered, pointing to a small restaurant.</p>
<p>“No! I don't want you to die!” Emma screamed.</p>
<p>“DO WHAT I SAY! RUN!” Lex shouted, the predator was a few meters from her and the children stayed behind, not knowing what to do. Wrapped in fear and panic, they watched as Berserker extended his long wrist blades while Lex did the same with her ceremonial spear.</p>
<p>“WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME? YOU’VE ALREADY TAKEN MY SISTER FROM ME!” Lex's tears turned into angry streams.</p>
<p>The predator advanced towards her, Lex attacked him with the spear and he effortlessly dodged the attack, then raised his blades to strike her.</p>
<p>Lex remembered her brief training with Scar, 《I’m small so they’ll try to hit me from above》 and she used the spear as a shield, taking it with both hands and holding it horizontally over her head, expecting the attack of Berserker. He impacted his blades in the spear and the blow rumbled into Lex's hands, the force of the impact sending her tumbling to the ground. He backed away, he was just playing, wanting to know how far the little human female could go.</p>
<p>Lex got up and backed away cautiously, Berserker advanced with sinister and barely audible steps. The mark on Lex's cheek made her special, it was a trophy that he wanted to win, but not here, not like this, he would have fun with her.</p>
<p>Lex attacked again, with all the strength, hatred and courage of her heart. The cocky predator was overconfident and didn’t dodge her attacks, so when Lex thrust forward her spear, she managed to pierce through his skin.</p>
<p>Berserker let out a supernatural growl that caused Lex to shiver and the next thing she knew was that he now had her spear. The movement was so fast, so unreal; Berserker moved so nimbly despite his massive size and with his long, muscular arm, he grabbed her by the neck, lifting her off the floor effortlessly and slamming her against the restaurant wall. Lex's head began to bleed by the impact and she felt a hot stream trickle down the back of her neck, along with a tremendous and overwhelming pain.</p>
<p>Her sight of what was happening around her became fleeting pieces of reality; she only managed to see that her niece was approaching her.</p>
<p>“Leave her! Please! PLEASE!” Emma pleaded between desperate sobs; Berserker stretched his free arm towards her, readying his harpoon to pierce the small creature. Lex wanted to scream <em>no!</em> But the big hand around her throat prevented her from speaking. She kicked the air desperately in an attempt to get away... and then, Berserker unexpectedly released her.</p>
<p>A roar echoed in the distance, Scar walking towards them with his hands extended in attack position, Lex saw him stand out among the lights of the cars and the lamps, with the long street in the background and the darkness of the night sky above him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>During the fight at the hardware store, Scar and Lake got separated. Humans who weren’t killed by the Bad Bloods were seriously injured; Falconer decided to face Scar hand to hand just to show off his strength and to distract attention from him while Tracker took care of Lake.</p>
<p>But it didn't last long, Berserker ordered them to finish soon. Tracker struck the injured Lake in the head and pierced his lower back with a blade. Falconer escaped from Scar upon receiving the call from his leader and along with Tracker, they dragged Lake into their ship.</p>
<p>A successful kidnapping.</p>
<p>In parallel, Berserker was heading to Amber's house, looking for Lex. He had been stalking her for days and when he didn’t find her he unleashed his anger and frustration on the only person he could find.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Scar didn’t treat the deep wounds that Falconer had left him with; he could only thought of Lex, he needed to verify that she was okay. He used his own ship to get to her house and when he saw the bloody scene, he almost lost his head, thinking the body was Lex’s, believing he had lost her forever.</p>
<p>He didn't know why the Bad Bloods had decided to attack her sister; he thought they were only looking for Lex even though he couldn't find a reason for them to do so.</p>
<p>The only thing that mattered was the here and now, and he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. He would never leave her alone.</p>
<p>Berserker activated his plasmacaster again and began to fire, exploding cars and causing horrible explosions.</p>
<p>Lex could see that Scar was struggling to maintain an upright posture, something was wrong with him; he was dragging his right leg a little. “SCAR!” Lex yelled.</p>
<p>“Lex!” Fred's voice called to her, reached her and lifted her off the ground, Lex was confused, how was it possible that he was here too?</p>
<p>“Leave me alone!” Lex screeched, trying to get out of Fred's grip.</p>
<p>“Listen to me, we can't stay here.” Fred pulled her by the arm and forced her to move forward. “I need you to come with me.”</p>
<p>“No! I'm not going to leave him, let me go!” Lex pushed him and saw that Scar had started shooting too.</p>
<p>Lex was afraid for him, she didn't want to lose him.</p>
<p>“That monster is coming for <em>you</em>; you have to come with me!” shouted Fred.</p>
<p>A blue minivan waited for them, parked at the corner of the restaurant. Her eyes flooded, what else could she do? She felt powerless, she had no weapons, she had nothing. She took the kids and they ran after Fred.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lex had disheveled hair, her mascara was ruined, her body was splattered with the phosphorescent blood of the Yautja and the blood of her own sister, her eyes were red and watery. She felt as if she would break at any moment. She fought not to.</p>
<p>The driver started leaving behind the new trail of destruction; there were only two rows of seats with a large space in between. The children were sitting together with Lex, hugging her on each side while Fred sat in front of them besides an elegant man in a black suit with dark hair combed back in a large pompadour. His eyebrows were bushy and his beard was thick.</p>
<p>“Miss Alexa Woods, I'm very sorry for you loss.” His voice was very low and calm, his eyes were large and blue and he had fair skin.</p>
<p>“Who are you?” Lex asked.</p>
<p>“My name is Carl Weyland; I am the director of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Some years ago you participated in the expedition that my father financed and organized in Antarctica, to investigate a signal that was coming from a pyramid.”</p>
<p>“Do you think that interests me now? Didn't you see what just happened!? I almost got killed!” Lex exclaimed with annoyance. What she needed the least now was to relive the memories of the expedition.</p>
<p>“Ten years ago in Los Angeles we tried to capture one of these creatures and the mission failed. Today they have returned.” The man continued, ignoring Lex's complains.</p>
<p>“I don’t care,” Lex snapped.</p>
<p>The man's features were almost the same as his father's, Charles Weyland; the drooping eyelids, the same calm expression, the almost aquiline nose, the broad forehead. It was the same image of him, but much younger and bearded.</p>
<p>“Miss Woods, I’m in requirement of your cooperation,” Carl continued, Lex saw a pistol dangling from his belt and that altered her nerves even further. The cooperation that the new Weyland asked for could very soon become a demand.</p>
<p>“My cooperation? My sister just died and I don't to deal with this. Not now, not never.”</p>
<p>“Lex, I can explain everything to you.” Fred entered the conversation, saving Carl from some insult or possible blow, “But first, you must agree to cooperate with this man.”</p>
<p>Lex's rage turned to Fred. She was beginning to lose what little patience she had.</p>
<p>“You're a lying son of a bitch; this is all your fault!” Lex yelled, remembering her bracelet.</p>
<p>Carl took out his cell phone and showed Lex the photograph of a biomask, the mark it had was the same as the one on her cheek “We found it in the Antarctica” Lex knew it immediately, the biomask belonged to Scar and there was no doubt about it.</p>
<p>The first time he showed her his face was just before he put the hunter's mark on her, and after the Queen Alien emerged from the ice, Scar no longer bothered to put on the biomask again, he had just put it down and started fighting. But that couldn't matter less at that time.</p>
<p>“I don't know what <em>that</em> has to do with me.” Tears came from her eyes but her voice remained clear and firm.</p>
<p>“You said that an explosion caused the deaths of all the other members of the expedition, including my father.” Carl's eyes turned out to be even more penetrating than his father's, but Lex held his gaze, not backing away for an instant. “But we know that this story is missing many parts. Now that they have returned, we need you to tell us the truth.”</p>
<p>“Lex, the bracelet I gave you had a-” Fred began.</p>
<p>“A tracker” completed Lex. That was the cause of all the problems.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but there's an explanation for it, just let me explain-” Fred started to say.</p>
<p>“We sent some of our best men to a hardware store on the outskirts of the town, as we suspected the place as the whereabouts of the beasts… however, the mission didn’t go as expected.” Carl interrupted.</p>
<p>“And as always, everything went wrong. You sent all those men to certain death. You don't seem to think before you act.” Lex rubbed her brow.</p>
<p>“You could explain to us why that happened, Miss Woods. You were there.” Carl's voice sounded irritated, but his gaze remained calm “We detected only two predators and there were <em>four</em> in that location. Which obviously complicated things.”</p>
<p>《Well, it's five now, you fucking idiot》 thought Lex.</p>
<p>“Lex, we're not the bad guys here. Those beasts are the enemy, they have no feelings or regrets, they kill for sport and they don't even mind leaving little children motherless…” Fred declared, she gave him a furious look.</p>
<p>“Enough of that, what do you want from me? I don't think this damn help is free or that it comes from the goodness of your hearts,” Lex asked, annoyed at the interrogation, the stories she hadn't requested and the hypocrisy. Her mind was a stormy sea of emotions, she wanted to cry and scream, but she just clenched her fists and exhaled through her mouth.</p>
<p>“We want you to tell us about the origin of your scar,” Carl said.</p>
<p>Lex had the impression that those two men in front of her did not care in the least about her situation and that infuriated her “I think you already know him, or am I wrong?”</p>
<p>“We know you've had contact with predators for some time,” Fred stated.</p>
<p>“And how the hell did you find me?” She questioned, she didn't think Fred's timely arrival was a mere coincidence.</p>
<p>Fred got up from his seat and sat next to Lex, ran his hand over the right strap of her black dress and ripped out a dark 3-millimeter square “It's another tracker.” He confessed.</p>
<p>It was enough for Lex, her blood boiled, her insides twisted “All this time you already knew about the expedition, about the metal mask and about the mark on my cheek, you only looked for me to get to them and put two goddamned trackers on me, who the fuck do you think you are?”</p>
<p>“This is all for your sake, I know it's hard to understand but please listen to me-” Fred started.</p>
<p>“My sister <em>died</em>; do you think this is the best time to talk about this? I don't give a shit! I have other things to think about!”</p>
<p>“Lex, I know what happened; we went to your house and saw your sister… I know it's painful but you must cooperate with us.”</p>
<p>The last thing heard was the hard punch Fred received in his face. Lex shook her fist after the impact “Can you stop being an insensible prick for just five minutes? My nephews are here! They lost their mother and I lost my sister. Have a little respect.”</p>
<p>Fred rubbed his bloody lip and returned to his old seat, next to Carl.</p>
<p>“Miss Woods, the predators kidnapped Fred's father, Mike Harrigan,” Carl said, his calm expression unfazed even after seeing Lex's fit of rage.</p>
<p>“I'm sorry Lex... but understand, I feel bad too, I've seen what those creatures are capable of and now they have my father,” Fred apologized.</p>
<p>“And not only him, they also took Major Alan Schaefer, who thirteen years ago managed to defeat a predator, and they took Lieutenant Ellen Ripley who was carrying out a mission in a space base” Carl showed her the photos of the two soldiers: a white woman with curly hair, and a muscular Caucasian man “And also several soldiers along with some inmates.”</p>
<p>“Another team of people will come to contain this situation, but you have to stay with us,” Fred said.</p>
<p>“Are you sending in another team? Do you really think you can contain them? The people who go there will end up dead and what happened in the hardware store will happen again” The little esteem that Lex had for Fred disappeared. He spoke of people as if they were replaceable objects and she could only feel loathing towards him.</p>
<p>“And what do you propose, Miss Woods? A day ago all these people didn’t believe in the existence of aliens, now two of them are fighting in the center of the city and someone must do the dirty work. My men are qualified for these kinds of situations; they’ll clean up the mess and try to capture one of them.”</p>
<p>“I still don't understand why you helped me.” Lex shook her head and shot Carl a look full of disbelief, even though they cleaned up the mess, dozens of people had seen the show, some had even died from Berserker's shooting.</p>
<p>She was sure that it was impossible to cover the Sun with one finger.</p>
<p>“Mike Harrigan, like Major Alan Schaefer and you, had contact at some point with these… aliens, I think you’ll be of great help to capture one of them if my men were to fail, and I know that you can also provide us with valuable information, we-”</p>
<p>Lex stopped listening to Carl's deep and calm voice, everything around her moved slowly, as if suddenly the world decided to slow down. She didn't need to pay much attention to the man's chatter to figure out what it all meant, her own mind was in charge of ordering the pieces of the puzzle.</p>
<p>It all made sense, the Bad Blood hunters were kidnapping different prey that even honorable predators couldn’t finish. And all of that had a dark and morbid explanation: The game was about to begin.</p>
<p>It started to rain, the storm had already arrived, so she just leaned her head against the window of the minivan and listened to the sound of raindrops against the window glass.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*Quick note: I want to emphasize that this fanfic was developed in an alternate universe, so I modified many things to unite all these characters, in the next chapter I’ll expand the explanations.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Monster</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In the previous chapter: -little summary-</p>
<p>Lex’s POV<br/>Amber is dead… she’s gone… and I will never see her again, why doesn't anyone seem to care? That Yautja has killed my sister and now Weyland's son, Carl, wants me to cooperate with them. I don't know what's going to happen, all I know is that the Bad Bloods are preparing a game and I'm not the only one involved. Fred's father, Mike Harrigan, has been kidnapped, along with Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and Major Alan Schaefer. And me, I just want to wake up from this nightmare.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Disclaimer:<br/>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them; this fanfic is just for fun.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to Frida521!!</p>
<p>Sorry for the delay, the university is hard, but here is the new chapter! I hope you like it!! :-D</p>
<p>Thank you Aeden_Emrys, CabritoSentado, Starlight24, Knightwatch, OtakuBree, zafirkolibri and the guest for all your kudos!<br/>Thank you Pumpkin19 and OtakuBree for the bookmark! :)<br/>Thank you Larita20190930 for your kind comment!<br/>Thank you all for your bookmarks, kudos, subscriptions and hits!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>Everything that was happening had put her strength to the limit, her resilience was minimal: she didn’t know if she would be able to overcome it, she didn’t know what to do either, she wanted revenge, she wanted to shut herself up to cry.</p>
<p>She couldn’t help but feel that everything was her fault; she repeated that it must have been her who died. <em>He</em> was coming for her.</p>
<p>The Weyland Industries building was like a huge fortress, large walls of at least 4 meters surrounding the ostentatious facilities. They could easily house a shopping center if they wanted, and that wasn’t the matrix but just one of the small arms of the huge corporation.</p>
<p>Emma and Daniel stayed in a luxurious room, where they now lived in. Carl Weyland had offered them lodging in his facilities and although Lex knew that his help had a background, she didn’t have any other safe place to take her nephews to.</p>
<p>Upon arrival, all the workers had looked at her as if she had come out of a horror movie, and when she saw herself in the mirror of her room, she couldn’t recognize herself. Her eyes were still swollen and red after crying so much and she hadn’t been able to sleep, but what was worse was that she still felt her sister's blood on her skin and she couldn’t remove it. No matter how much she washed her body, Lex felt like it was still there.</p>
<p>Today she escaped to the coast, taking some buses to get there. She needed some time alone, a moment to say goodbye. Weyland had sent some men to collect the body of her sister and yesterday they had cremated her. It seemed a lie to her that she’s now holding the urn that contains her remains.</p>
<p>She took off her shoes and walked towards the water; she took out of her pockets two letters that her nephews had written, containing their goodbyes. She began to read them aloud, Lex wanted them to be here, but it was dangerous... she felt that at any moment the murderer would appear out of nowhere to claim her as prey. And she was not ready to face it.</p>
<p>After finishing reading the letters, she scattered the ashes among the waves and returned to shore, sat on the sand and stared at the sunset until it was lost on the horizon. She stayed there for at least an hour, beginning to cry again, feeling devastated. She squeezed the sand between her hands and then put on her shoes; she had to go back to the facility.</p>
<p>She got up and started walking along the coast.</p>
<p>“Hey, can I come with you?” Lex turned to the man; he was tall and blond, his eyes were blue and he had a large scar that covered the left side of his face, reaching his neck. Lex didn’t hear him approach, didn’t see where he came from, nor did she remember if he was already here somewhere on the coast and that made her see the reality. She was vulnerable, an easy prey, her senses were disturbed.</p>
<p>“Actually, I want to be alone.” He ignored her words and kept walking beside her.</p>
<p>“I get it and I know you've probably heard it a lot already, but I'm sorry you've been through that situation.” His voice was deep and kind, he didn't want to upset Lex and he preferred to speak calmly.</p>
<p>She stopped.</p>
<p>“Weyland sent you? Are you going to put another tracker on me? I just want to be alone! Why don't you get it?” She didn't hide her anger from her words.</p>
<p>“This has nothing to do with Weyland. I followed you on my own”, said the man, Lex noticed that he was hiding a pistol in his jacket pockets, did all the men she knew were armed to the teeth? He noticed her discomfort and smiled to try to calm things down “Don't worry, it's just to protect me from the beasts, although I highly doubt that it would help.”</p>
<p>“Who are you?” Lex questioned.</p>
<p>“My name is Dwayne Hicks and I'm also living in that building, I've heard a lot about you.” Hicks smiled kindly, he had always been a very handsome man and the angry scar on his face didn't matter to him in the slightest, it just gave him a rougher look.</p>
<p>He reached out his hand to Lex and she, although she hesitated to take it, ended up shaking it.</p>
<p>“What do you have to do with Weyland?” Lex didn’t find sense in introducing herself to the man, it was clear that he knew her name and who knew how many other things.</p>
<p>“We can go somewhere else if you want, and talk more calmly,” the man suggested.</p>
<p>“No, just tell me.”</p>
<p>Hicks put his hands in the pockets of his pants and looked up at the sky, where the stars beginning to become visible, then he looked at Lex and began to speak “Some years ago, the old Weyland sent a military team to a distant planet, because they lost contact with a colony of humans working on an atmosphere transformer”.</p>
<p>“Does Weyland do space travel?” Lex asked, completely bewildered. All that time she had believed that the Weyland industries were dedicated to the extraction of minerals and manufacture of weapons.</p>
<p>“His weapons company merged with Kate Yutani's space agency.” Hicks answered without wanting to go into too much detail, the management of the corporation wasn’t important.</p>
<p>“What happened to the human colony?” She asked.</p>
<p>“When we arrived, we only found a hive of elusive black creatures… those things killed all the people there and all my partners, do you see the scar on my face? The acid blood of one of the creatures marked me.”</p>
<p>Lex felt like she couldn't breathe, every time she thought the past was behind her, it always reached out to her. She latched onto her chest and tried to regulate her breathing, she didn't mention ‘Aliens’ to anyone, but Hicks guessed that she already knew what he was talking about. She decided to face it.</p>
<p>“You say you know a lot about me. What do you know about my expedition to Antarctica?”</p>
<p>“Weyland believes that it wasn’t an explosion that ended everyone's life. They found part of your clothes, splattered with acid and pieces of the exoskeleton of an unknown creature,” Hicks confessed.</p>
<p>《The damn queen…》 Lex thought, Scar managed to hurt her with his Smart-disc and apparently some team of people rescued the pieces.</p>
<p>“That Weyland is nosy,” Lex said.</p>
<p>Hicks laughed.</p>
<p>“Weyland knows those pieces belong to the <em>insects</em>.”</p>
<p>Hicks told her that only a girl named <em>Newt</em>, the <em>android Bishop</em>, a woman named <em>Ripley</em> and he, were the only survivors, ending his story by telling her that his ship was intercepted by the mother ship of the Bad Bloods and that the recordings showed the massive predators at the time they pulled Ripley and Newt out of the cryo capsules.</p>
<p>“I'm very sorry about what happened to your team.”</p>
<p>Hicks outlined a small smile “Alexa, I followed you because I know you are undone and I also felt that way, I understand your pain because I’ve also lost people I care about, and I know that you can help me” Hicks's eyes clouded and one a tear escaped from them. He remembered his deceased friends, the image of Ripley also coming to his mind.</p>
<p>“I don't know what Weyland told you about me, but I highly doubt that I can help you,” Lex said.</p>
<p>“I’ve clung to the hope of somehow finding Ripley and Newt, because they are all I have. I’d do anything to bring them back and I came here because it’s not safe to speak on the corporation. You’re the only person I can trust. Alexa, I ask you to help me.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>It seemed that the problems didn’t end, Hicks told Lex about a disgusting black <em>impregnator</em>, very different from the ones they had both seen. He was referring to a <em>facehugger</em>, the creature had sneaked into their ship when they were in the colony and Weyland had hidden it somewhere on the corporation. He also spoke to her about the true plans of the company and made it very clear that the priority of the Weyland-Yutani industries had always been to capture a live specimen of an alien and take over the technology of the predators.</p>
<p>So, Lex decided to tell him a bit about her own experience in Antarctica. She thought it was convenient to have someone trustworthy in the facility, someone who didn’t think of 'taming' a Xenomorph.</p>
<p>For the first time in years, she brought up Sebastian and Miller and the way she met them. Hicks just gave her a sympathetic look and more of his condolences.</p>
<p>He was willing to earn her trust; he believed that Lex could help him find Ripley and Newt but, could she really help him? Everyone thought Lex had the Answers; everyone was expecting something from her. Hicks didn't seem like a bad man to her; after all, he had chosen to speak with the truth to her. He seemed desperate and wanted Lex to tell him about the predators.</p>
<p>He had also told her that Weyland would send a ship to rescue the people only if he could get the technology that he wanted so much on his hands. Hicks’ plan was to steal a ship and go off on his own if Weyland refused to help him.</p>
<p>Hicks had nothing else to lose, but she did. Lex had a responsibility, she couldn’t just think of her. Emma and Daniel needed her.</p>
<p>And Scar… Lex didn’t care that he was a huge, deadly alien hunter. She was not going to put his life at risk.</p>
<p>She just hoped he was okay, wherever he was.</p>
<hr/>
<p>When they returned to the building, Hicks told her to accompany him to the lunchroom, mentioning that while the coffee tasted like dirt, with the worst flavor they could taste, its intense flavor actually kept him awake. Lex agreed to go with him.</p>
<p>“Lex, where were you?” Fred asked her, and as soon as he saw them enter the lunchroom, he approached them.</p>
<p>She just ignored him and followed Hicks to the coffee machine, then sat down at one of the tables, Hicks sitting next to her and Fred across from them.</p>
<p>“Look, I know you hate me, but I just want to help you and in return I only ask for your help.” Fred's smile was clouded by his anguished look. He put his arm on the glass table and tried to reach Lex's hand, but she jerked it away.</p>
<p>“How?” Lex looked at both men “Do I look as someone who can be useful?” She took a sip at the cup of coffee. Hicks was right, it tasted horrible, it was grainy and very thick.</p>
<p>“They took my father six months ago, he’s 55 years old and still going strong but I’m desperate, like Hicks. You’re the only person who can help us.”</p>
<p>Lex's eyes flooded and Hicks handed her a napkin.</p>
<p>“Good evening, I apologize for the interruption, but Mr. Weyland wants you to go to the boardroom,” Eloise said. She was a young, brunette woman with short brown hair. She then led them through a network of confusing corridors; the floor was so smooth that you could see your reflection in it and the walls were a pearl color.</p>
<p>Lex was silent while Fred and Hicks exchanged some basic phrases about the weather and sports in the background. She rolled her eyes. How could they be in the mood to talk about those things?</p>
<p>Then they reached the conference room; it had glass walls that showed the seven men and three women who were around an oval table; Eloise left, leaving them right at the door.</p>
<p>“Miss Woods, Mr. Harrigan, Mr. Hicks, have a seat, please.” Carl led the meeting; he was in front of the people, showing some pictures on a projector. “As you can see, this is the photograph of the two specimens.”</p>
<p>Lex remained standing, looking at the photograph on the board. They were two predators, both taller than Scar and neither looked like Amber's killer “There are more.” Lex said.</p>
<p>Everyone in the room turned to her “More? We've only seen two,” said a man, his voice sounded alarmed and his name was Sean Keyes, he was operating the computer that transmitted the photographs to the projector.</p>
<p>“Didn't you see the one who attacked me in the city?” Lex pointed towards the projected photographs “That predator was taller and more muscular and his mask was different, he has a kind of jaw like a crocodile’s, embedded in the lower part of his mask.”</p>
<p>“Miss Woods, couldn’t it be that you saw wrong?” questioned a man with an incredulous expression on his face and a vague smile on his lips.</p>
<p>“I don't like your tone of voice,” snapped Lex. Fred, who had also remained standing, took her by the shoulder to calm her down, but she moved away and walked over to the man. “If I tell you there are three of them, it's because I saw them.”</p>
<p>“Impossible, we've been tracking them for a few months and we only saw the two,” said a red-haired woman.</p>
<p>“What's your name?” Lex asked.</p>
<p>“Amy.” She answered.</p>
<p>“Amy, do you have siblings?”</p>
<p>Everyone in the room looked at Lex in confusion, not knowing where she wanted to go “I don't know why you're asking me that, Miss Woods.</p>
<p>“That son of a bitch killed my sister and I saw him and if you have even a bit of a brain, you’ll recognize that it’s impossible to forget someone who caused you so much harm.”</p>
<p>“Enough, Miss Woods,” Carl said, the attention of those present returning to him. “On the last mission we detected four of them. But I guess one is missing, right, Miss Woods?”</p>
<p>Lex nodded.</p>
<p>The murmur began to rise throughout the room. “Listen,” Carl asked, pointing to the images, “If there are five predators or six, it doesn't matter, we'll capture them.</p>
<p>Lex laughed at the man's absurd confidence “No, they must be killed. They don't even respect their own race; do you think you’re going to be able to deal with them?”</p>
<p>“You seem to know them quite well,” a man said as he adjusted his thick black glasses.</p>
<p>“I've seen what they're capable of,” said Lex without even flinching, she turned and left the room. Fred followed her, but she wasn’t willing to slow her steps; she moved quickly through the corridors, her sense of orientation was pretty good and she clearly remembered the way to the kids. She just wanted to leave the facility; her audacious common sense ordered her to just leave that place.</p>
<p>“Carl wants to question you, that's why he brought you here, your kids are safe and you’re safe too. But everything has a price, he wants you to tell him the truth” Fred followed suit.</p>
<p>“As I guessed, they all don't give a shit what happens to me or my nephews, all they want me to do is talk and talk. But I don't know anything, there's no truth to tell.” Lex just gave Fred a brief glance and went on her way.</p>
<p>“I know you’re lying because you were never good at it, but I don't know why you are doing it.” Fred took her hand.</p>
<p>Lex stopped and jerked out of his grip.</p>
<p>“And what prevents them from chaining me to a chair and getting the truth out of me?”</p>
<p>“I told them that I’d talk to you, that I would convince you to confess” Lex laughed and Fred raised his eyebrows. “What's funny?”</p>
<p>“<em>This</em> is very funny.” Lex's words were contrary to the sarcastic expression on her face. “Tell me where that torture room is, put me outright in chains.”</p>
<p>“Lex, please. I'm being serious” Fred thought Lex finally succumbed to her insanity.</p>
<p>“I don't think all predators are bad. But that bastard who killed my sister is going to die. I'm going to kill him.”</p>
<p>For the first time since Fred saw Lex again, he felt angry at her. Even the punch she had given him was not enough to anger him. But enough was enough and he was going to give her a piece of his mind. He thought that Amber's death had made her lose her mind. Otherwise, there was no way she would fully think that the murderous and predatory beasts were gentle creatures. He could not conceive that idea, it disgusted him.</p>
<p>“I can't believe it, did you hear yourself? You just said those killers are good!”</p>
<p>“Just leave me alone, will you?” Lex's eyes were furious.</p>
<p>“Sure, you trust Hicks more now, don't you?”</p>
<p>Lex ignored the man again; she didn't feel like dealing with him, not now, not ever.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The corridors were exhausting, that place seemed to have no end. Through the glass walls dozens of men could be seen sitting in front of desks, operating computers and answering phones, as if it were an office that worked 24 hours a day.</p>
<p>“Miss Woods, can we talk?”</p>
<p>《Shit》 Lex thought. Carl Weyland's voice calling her, “About what?” she asked him.</p>
<p>“I know you are not planning to stay here, but think about those children and your own safety. Do you really think they will be safer outside?”</p>
<p>“Now it's hard to tell” Lex walked away from the man, who had remained in the middle of the hall, “You just want to catch those predators and I just want my nephews to be <em>safe</em>. I don't know how I can help you.”</p>
<p>“I've already told you on several occasions that you could star by giving me some valuable information,” Carl said, with Dutch out of the way, Lex was the one who knew the most about the predators’ behavior.</p>
<p>“I don't know where they are.”</p>
<p>“You made friends with one of them. That's why they marked you,” the man's words affirmed the fact.</p>
<p>There was no point in lying anymore; Lex realized that the man in front of her was only proving the veracity of his words “No, it's not that... I earn his respect, that's why he marked me, but that was a long time ago, I know nothing else.”</p>
<p>“Very well, we are finally moving forward.”</p>
<p>“What do you plan to do with them? I don't think it’s possible to contain them.” Lex was sure it was impossible to capture a Yautja.</p>
<p>Carl changed her perspective.</p>
<p>“Investigate them, cut them open, examine them. These creatures hunt humans, it’s necessary to find out their behavior and decipher their anatomy” Carl confessed. He actually didn't care about the Yautja, he just wanted to get their weapons, but the man wasn’t an idiot and he couldn’t tell his true intentions to Lex, who was a recognized environmentalist who was always against the use of weapons.</p>
<p>The man was holding an electronic tablet and soon made use of it to show Lex the images of a Yautja. They had him on a stretcher and his body was cut open right in the middle, allowing them to see his internal organs “See his muscles? They are vastly different than a human’s. So much stronger, too.”</p>
<p>Lex looked at the man and a grimace of disgust formed on her face “Have you already captured one? You don't need me anymore.” Lex backed away from the man.</p>
<p>“We found him a few years ago, but he was already dead.” He lied, omitting all the torture they caused the warrior.</p>
<p>Something was wrong, Lex could feel it. Scar had told her that losing a hunt was a disgrace and that hunters used their wrist devices to end their lives and prevent anyone from finding them. But she wasn't going to tell that to Carl.</p>
<p>“Well then, I guess you already investigated what you wanted with that predator,” Lex inferred.</p>
<p>Carl smiled to himself, there was no doubt that she was smart “We need one alive” he lied again; it had become a habit, though a useful one. “Your experience will be of great use.”</p>
<p>“My <em>experience</em>?” Lex laughed wryly.</p>
<p>“If you stay, I guarantee you that we’ll protect your nephews, you’ll no longer would have to flee. They’ll be safe here. No one will hurt you again.”</p>
<p>Lex's expression changed, she blamed herself for even starting to consider the man's proposal. She didn't trust him, much less after everything Hicks had told her, but he was the only option to keep her nephews safe.</p>
<p>At last, she had finally decided to cooperate with him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lex walked up to her room and lay down along with Emma. Daniel stayed in the other bed and she turned off the lights. She couldn't stop thinking about all the problems that seemed to grow like a rich river in a rainy storm and at the end there was <em>him</em>.</p>
<p>《Scar…》</p>
<p>A knock interrupted her thoughts. For a brief moment, Lex believed that she was still in Amber's house and not on the fifth floor of the Weyland-Yutani corporation's premises. She got up and drew up the blind.</p>
<p>“Scar!”</p>
<p>The predator had climbed up to the small balcony, Lex hurried to slide the glass.</p>
<p>“Lex,” Scar said, his claws gripping the metal railing.</p>
<p>“I was so afraid of losing you.” Lex whispered and reached up to stroke the long, soft tendrils that swayed on the Yautja's shoulders. “How are you? You were hurt! What is the matter with you? How did you go to fight in those conditions?”</p>
<p>Scar purred. There she was, scolding him like he was a puppy, showing him her concern.</p>
<p>“Yautja medicine is very advanced,” he explained.</p>
<p>For a moment Lex imagined that Scar had won, she didn't want to mention it, but she had to know the truth.</p>
<p>“And what happened with <em>him</em>?” She questioned.</p>
<p>“I kept up the fight with Berserker until some humans arrived and he fled,” he said.</p>
<p>“That piece of shit murdered my sister,” Lex said, her eyes filled with tears. Then Berserker was out there, roaming the streets unpunished.</p>
<p>“I don't know why he did it, but I promise he’ll pay for it.” Scar brought his big hand to Lex's face.</p>
<p>She let Scar caress her cheek, looked at her nephews and looked back at the warrior. Her heart squeezed bitterly.</p>
<p>Lex knew the reason; she was the target of the Bad Bloods.</p>
<p>“Scar, I…” and now she had to make the cruel decision of walking away, for the sake of her nephews and so that Scar's life would not be in danger. She couldn’t bear to lose him, the very idea of seeing him laying on a hospital bed full of cables, like the other Yautja, terrified her.</p>
<p>He wouldn't agree to run away, he would stay to fight and Lex couldn't take that risk, no matter how much she trusted his strength. She didn't want to lose another loved one.</p>
<p>“Tell me,” Scar stroked Lex's face, careful not to rip the skin with his sharp black claws.</p>
<p>Lex put a hand on the Yautja's chest, slightly stretching the metal mesh that covered his body, fiddling with the thin cables, and brushing the skin in an intimate touch. She had never been so close to him, not at least in that way. She felt so different, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she <em>wanted him</em>.</p>
<p>She could see the pigments of his skin, it was a pale greenish gray color and it was a bit rough. She also noticed that it had tiny scales barely visible and completely flat; when she had helped Lake, he didn’t have the time to observe those details and she didn’t think that this would last too long with Scar.</p>
<p>“I want to know, what am I to you?” She asked.</p>
<p>“You're my partner,” he said, Lex's tears were following their path. As much as she tried to hold them back, there they were. Scar brushed away some of the drops, Lex was collapsing in front of his eyes. The strong woman that he held dear, looked weak and in pain. He wanted to be her comfort, he wasn't disappointed, he was honored that she trusted him enough to show her crying.</p>
<p>“It's okay, it's okay,” he said in a calm voice, making use of everything he had learned from humans. Giving Lex his understanding would make her feel better.</p>
<p>Lex didn't try anymore, she let out her sobs.</p>
<p>“I can't help crying…. I can't take all of this anymore…”</p>
<p>“Lex, I'll be with you. I'm not going to judge you,” Scar said. His words didn't help her, Lex preferred him to be cruel and contemptuous, so that leaving him wouldn't be so painful. But there he was, being so damn cute and <em>understanding</em>, as he comprehended it, choosing the right words to make her feel better.</p>
<p>“Can you lean in?” Lex asked, Scar did so and she took him by his jaw. He was wearing his biomask, but she didn't care.</p>
<p>And then, Lex kissed his face, above his biomask and passed her arms around his neck to bring him closer to her. He gently wrapped his arms around her waist and although the position was a bit uncomfortable, he enjoyed Lex taking the initiative.</p>
<p>“What was that?” Scar questioned when Lex pulled away from him, his head tilted slightly to the side.</p>
<p>Lex sighed heavily, trying to ignore the urge she had to ask him to stay next to her. “A goodbye, you have go,” she said.</p>
<p>“Where to?” Scar said was full of confusion; he just wanted to be with her.</p>
<p>“I don't know, we can't see each other anymore, I'm sorry.” Lex looked into the metallic eyes of his biomask and tried to hold her ground.</p>
<p>“Lex, I don't understand you.” Scar watched every gesture on the brunette's face with meticulous attention, wondering if he had done something to annoy her.</p>
<p>“What? Did you think I loved you?” She said, her tears escaping from her eyes, betraying her wounded heart and she tried to push them away with the sleeve of her sweater.</p>
<p>Scar was left helpless by such a statement “I know we’re different, but I don't care that you are human. You are a warrior” Scar found her worthy, there was nothing he wanted more in the whole damn universe than to stay by her side. He didn't care about anything else.</p>
<p>“You don't even know me; you don't know anything about me.”</p>
<p>“I remember everything you told me,” Scar said.</p>
<p>Lex sighed “Do you think this little time was enough to fall in love? Do you even know what love is?” asked Lex, she was scared to know the affirmative answer and how soon her feelings were returned to the warrior.</p>
<p>“I don't know.” Scar knew little about love and its unexpected ways, he only wanted Lex's well-being. “I don't know how humans handle their emotions.”</p>
<p>“You see it? We’ll never understand each other.”</p>
<p>“Then teach me,” the warrior asked.</p>
<p>“To what?” Lex felt the cool breeze coming in from the window, Scar's dreadlocks moved in a slow sway and she could only record the image of him and keep it as a memory. It was all she could do for him.</p>
<p>“Teach me to be more human,” Scar said, never in his life did he imagine himself asking for such a thing, Wolf would have had a heart attack or a terrible diarrhea if he could hear him.</p>
<p>Lex just hoped her words would get him to leave “God, we only got to communicate a little in the Pyramid, we were separated for four long years and I didn't think of you in all that time.”</p>
<p>Scar shook his head, squeezed the railing and it gave way under his claws “Didn't you?”</p>
<p>“I <em>didn’t</em>. I can't love a <em>monster</em> like you,” Lex said, her words sounded lower than she planned and much sadder than she could imagine; she was aware that things would hardly be the same after that and it hurt, like a sharp blow to the chest, leaving it broken, undone, or worse.</p>
<p>But it was for the best. Scar wasn't safe next to her, she preferred him to be far away and safe from Weyland or anyone who wanted to hurt him.</p>
<p>Scar emitted an angry roar. Lex had made it, he would abandon her, leave her forever and would only be left with the bitter memory of a broken heart and the hurtful words of someone he esteemed, respected and loved. He turned his back on her.</p>
<p>“I’m a monster to you.” said the warrior, convincing himself that it had not been just his imagination and feeling how his guts were twisted by pain and disappointment “It's all my fault, I allowed myself to feel this.”</p>
<p>She reached out her hand to him, but dismissed the idea of holding him back and moved on with her words, “No, it's not your fault; I know someday you'll understand. Scar, look at me,” Lex asked, wishing he would turn around to face her one last time, but he continued on his back, preparing for the descent. “It's the best for both of us.”</p>
<p>Scar didn't say anything else, everything had become clear and he felt stupid and desolate. He jumped into the void and Lex hurried to the edge of the balcony.</p>
<p>He was long gone by then.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Spin off Weyland Yutani industries</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hi, this is Dean :)</p>
<p>This chapter isn’t a direct continuation of the previous chapter, but it functions as a bunch of written clarifications, reports, and notes. What I'm looking for is to show you how I modified a lot of dates, events and even add more things so that this fanfic makes some sense -I also added a bit of history of other characters- because all the characters that are they will appear on the tags.</p>
<p>In the next chapter you will know what will happen to Lex and Scar's broken heart ;)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! You are amazing!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>Carl retired to his office: a large room with gray walls and a wooden floor, he sat on his black leather chair and put his elbows on his prominent cedar desk.</p>
<p>He had a shelf behind him, filled with various books, mostly on astronomy and biology, and next to it was a 7-tier dark gray metallic filing cabinet, which contained old folders containing information about the company, as much as he wanted to ignore it, he knew that at some point he should empty all that information on his laptop. He didn't trust too many people to do that job for him.</p>
<p>He got up from his comfortable chair and advanced to the filing cabinet, with Lex inside the corporation, he had to make sure not to forget any information that would help him capture the predators. He didn't trust Lex, he resented her for not saving his father's life and for providing information that he knew to be false about what happened in Antarctica.</p>
<p>He had already seen Lex's mark on the biomask his team found in Antarctica and on a certain Yautja that they captured many years ago, but to his fortune, he knew how to get her to cooperate with him. Her nephews are very precious to her and she had finally agreed with him. “Well it's not like she had many options”</p>
<p>Carl forcefully pull the first cabinet and take a yellow folder out of it, continued with the subsequent levels, choosing the necessary files, it didn't take long to find what he was looking for, he memorize the exact place where each folder was.</p>
<p>Again he reached his desk and sat in his chair, took reading glasses from a drawer and hurried to arrange the folders from left to right, ordering them by year, he glanced at the door, no one could enter without being announced, but what he had in his hands was so secret that he always had that uncertainty of being discovered.</p>
<p>He began to read:</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span class="u">First contact: Antarctica 1904.</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>The first folder didn’t contain much information, only vague writings and hypotheses about what could have happened in that whaling station in 1904 and where so many people disappeared.</p>
<p>Just a hundred years later, his father would set out on a journey to the little town in search of a remote sign in a Pyramid under the ice, hoping to find something that would lead them to them.</p>
<p>The man leafed through the second folder:</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span class="u">Second contact: Point Hope, Alaska 1969.</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>The town of Point Hope located in Alaska witnessed an infestation of Xenomorphs; a dead specimen was rescued and taken to the Weyland facilities for further study.</p>
<p>After the <em>Sapphire mission</em>, the first living specimen of a predator was captured. The whereabouts of his ship are unknown, it is believed that he used some device to disappear the trail, they could not find his weapons either.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Report status: closed.</strong>
</p>
<p>When people sounded the alarms and communicated the situation that the town was facing, the Weyland corporation, along with other agencies, sent several special teams to investigate what was happening, however, upon arrival they realized that the situation had already it was controlled.</p>
<p>The black snakes lay dead, from the eggs belonging to the hive, not even the slightest trace remained and just after they detected the presence of an old and experienced elite Yautja, who had scars all over his face and on his abdomen.</p>
<p>They couldn't miss that great opportunity and implemented <em>Operation Sapphire.</em> It was not easy to capture him despite the fact that he was badly injured and the chase lasted for weeks.</p>
<p>Carl always, -since his father told him about the predators- thought that that Yautja had acted as a Xenomorph cleaner, as if he were a pest exterminator who was sent to control the infestation.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span class="u">Third Contact: U.S.C.S.S. Nostromo, 1990.</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The origin of the Xenomorph:</em>
</p>
<p>After more than 20 years of research, the first photograph of what turned out to be a small alien hive was detected on the remote planet U5423.</p>
<p>
  <em>The main objective: Bring the Xenomorph alive to Earth.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Crew: Expendable.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Officer in Charge: Synthetic Ash.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Report 1:</em>
</p>
<p>The main operating system of the ship called <em>Mother</em> detected an abnormal signal that occurred every 12 seconds and that was identified as a distress signal, so the destination of the ship was reorganized to direct them to the Zeta II Reticuli extrasolar system, exactly to the planet that was projecting the signal.</p>
<p>The signal was later reviewed by Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and it was concluded that it was a warning signal, coming from an old alien ship.</p>
<p>Officer Kane was impregnated by a creature that stuck to his hull, breaking the glass, while the Captain Dallas and Navigator Lambert, they searched a room full of eggs in the vicinity of the  space alien ship.</p>
<p>The only survivor of the Nostromo was Lieutenant Ellen Ripley, who was questioned in 2001 after locating the escape pod she used after activating the Nostromo's self-destruction.</p>
<p>The existence of the hive could not be confirmed.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Report status: closed.</strong>
</p>
<p>Charles Weyland was in that room, where Lieutenant Ripley was constantly ridiculed for telling a story that to everyone present sounded like a delusion of post-traumatic stress from someone who had surely hit her head very hard. But of course he trusted her story; the idea of sending the synthetic Ash as the scientific officer of the mission had been his, the suspicions about the hive had been his.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, without the alien, there was little he could do. His shareholders would not agree to reactivate a mission that remained for 11 long years in the shadows.</p>
<p>And Ripley would not cooperate with them, although time had done little damage to her as she drifted aimlessly through space alongside a golden-furred cat, her mind was chronically fatigued from the trauma she experienced, along with a feeling of having only slept one nap and not for 11 years. She was unstable, those years in astronomical terms and at those absurd speeds, slowed down her own biological clock and when they rescued her more by luck or chance, she seemed as fresh and young as the day she climbed the Nostromo, but she was no longer that woman. She distrusted everyone and thought that she only had herself.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span class="u">Fourth contact: Val Verde, 1995.</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Major Alan Schaefer was questioned due to the death of his entire team during a rescue in the Val Verde jungle.</p>
<p>‘Dutch’ was in charge of documenting everything so that no evidence was forgotten or disappeared. He for some time thought of joining Weyland's search team, but he scrapped the idea when he learned of plans to capture the aliens to obtain their technologies.</p>
<p> He didn't want to be part of it, he thought that the predators would eventually plan an invasion and he preferred to see them dead, furthermore, his past experiences told him that humans weren't ready to manipulate that kind of technology.</p>
<p>He disappeared from the radar, he dedicated himself to investigating on his own account, inquiring among remote places the local legends that told stories of mysterious demons that used to hunt on the hottest days;</p>
<p>He became obsessed with those creatures and came to the conclusion that they would continue to come to Earth, he believed that they liked to hunt here, Earth seemed to be his preferred hunting ground and he undertook the task of exterminating all who came, became <em>The Hunter of hunters.</em></p>
<p>He wanted to show the Yautja that humans were not prey, they were warriors... however, he did not manage to intimidate the predators and only caused more and more warriors increasingly stronger and prepared they wish to face him or any other human capable of fighting.</p>
<p>Berserker heard about him, his name had risen among all kinds of predators and after a fight managed to capture him in southern Mexico, Dutch lost his freedom that day, but he learned something else: not all predators play the same.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span class="u">Fifth Contact: Los Angeles, 1998.</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Peter Keyes and his oldest son, Sean Keyes, who worked for the <em>OWLF</em>, developed a plan to hunt down the predator that stalked the Angels, unlike Weyland, they were more interested in the study of Yautja anatomy than its technologies.</p>
<p>When Peter Keyes was killed by the predator, years later Sean joined the <em>STARGAZER</em> project, who did manage to capture a Yautja.</p>
<p>However, that mission also failed and the predator they captured managed to escape, killing almost all the personnel, Sean managed to flee the facility and later Charles Weyland offered him an opportunity to join his team.</p>
<p>Lieutenant Mike Harrigan -unsurprisingly- turned down all offers to work with Weyland and continued to work as a police officer until he was able to retire. He was captured by Tracker when he was leaving his house.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span class="u">Sixth Contact, Weyland-Yutani Platform, 2001:</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>A communication failure was detected in the human colony that was in charge of managing the atmosphere transformers, established on planet U5423.</p>
<p>After Ellen Ripley's statements about the Nostromo incident and about the possible fact that confirmed the existence of an alien hive on the planet U5423, an armed team was sent that together with her, would investigate the communication failure.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Report status: closed.</strong>
</p>
<p>By failing to detect the alien hive as a threat, the humans did what they do best: appropriate things they just discovered and then decided to colonize the planet where Kane was infected. Ripley almost had a heart attack when she found out about this.</p>
<p>Carl didn't get a chance to talk with Ripley, but he always thought that her as some kind of warrior who had gotten away (at the Nostromo at least) from a fierce and savage alien. It was somewhat ironic that they sent a group to investigate the communication failure and that in the end that same group was lost.</p>
<p>The elderly Charles Weyland had been but one rung on that long ladder of generations who had dedicated their lives to researching and funding alien research projects and now Carl, who bought the shareholders' right to the corporation, wished to appropriate the technology of the predators, especially their destructive weapons and their ships that apparently used some kind of fuel that made space exploration look like child's play. Those ships were definitely faster than the terrestrial ones.</p>
<p>He still had the dead Xenomorph that they managed to bring in 1969 and although it was not the same as examining the behavior of a living one, the efforts of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and recent advances in science told him that very soon they would make their own Xenomorph from the cells of the dead specimen.</p>
<p>He no longer wanted to spend any more money on missions that promised to bring one alive and then failed miserably, and with the new face hugger he got from Hicks' ship, he had the upper hand.</p>
<p>He now he just had to be patient.</p>
<p>The last report, and the one that always took the hardest time to review, was that of the events that happened in 2004, where his father had lost his life.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span class="u">Seventh contact: Bouvetoya Island, Antarctica, 2004.</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>A heat signal was detected within a pyramidal structure on the Isle of Bouvetoya.</p>
<p>According to the statements of Alexa Woods, a device was detonated in the center of the Pyramid, assassinated the team of scientists, the military and the then director of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation: Charles Weyland.</p>
<p>
  <em>Salvaged objects:</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>* Metal biomask.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>* Parts of the exoskeleton are a new specimen of Xenomorph</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>* Part of a red jacket corroded by some kind of acid presumably from a Xenomorph.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Report status: open.</strong>
</p>
<p>Ripley knew the Xenomorphs as much as Lex knew the Yautja, both managed in different circumstances to face two of the most lethal species in the universe.</p>
<p>And something was clear; Lex can't be friend of the enemy.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. From far away</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Disclaimer:</p>
<p>I don't own the characters: Lex or Scar (as well as other characters that will appear eventually). I really admire its creators and respect them; this fanfic is just for fun.<br/>Thanks to Frida521! </p>
<p>In this chapter, I included an OC predator named Winter, he doesn’t belong to me, all the credits for him go to predator1701 -from Fanfiction-. Thank you for allowing me to use him!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you somedayisours, Buffysara, sweetlittleredbird and the guest for all your kudos!</p>
<p>Thank you Greenboy for the bookmark! :) I'm very happy!</p>
<p>Thank you Buffysara for your comment!! </p>
<p>Thank you all for your bookmarks, kudos, subscriptions and hits! :-)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>Lex examined the huge black bags that had accumulated under her eyes. No matter what, she couldn't sleep.</p>
<p>Days ago, an athletic woman whom everyone called Martínez, had advised her to get rid of her long hair to maintain a more hidden identity. She herself kept her brown hair almost flush with her skull, but Lex wasn’t sure that it would work against predators. Although at least she'd save herself from having to brush her unruly, curly locks every day.</p>
<p>And so she decided to cut her hair.</p>
<p>Putting on green military-style pants and a loose black blouse, she left the room after saying goodbye to Daniel and Emma, who were playing with a console that Fred had given them, and walked to the meeting room. It was still early and the men's team that Carl had chosen hadn’t arrived yet, which gave her time to be alone.</p>
<p>Carl's men had managed to get a picture of Berserker, catching him on top of a building, roaring wildly. Now he was being projected on the blackboard. Lex leaned closer to the image and jabbed the tip of a pen into the predator's chest.</p>
<p>“You look... good,” Fred said, entering the room. Lex turned to him, his words were kind, but his facial expressions didn’t do much to hide his real opinion very well.</p>
<p>Lex suddenly remembered that Fred loved women with long, silky hair and that she had cut her hair almost flush with her head. “Sure.”</p>
<p>“You just look different, you look like another person. I think I'll miss those long curls,” said the man, sitting next to her with a smile. Lex didn't flinch and he kept a serious look on her face. “Are you ready for what's next? We’re so close to finding their hiding place.”</p>
<p>“They’re still here because they haven't captured me, it must be a trap.”  Lex said, not looking at the man.</p>
<p>Fred had been a witness to Lex's decline. She seemed more broken and pessimistic every day, the only thing that kept her grounded was knowing that her nephews were safe.</p>
<p>At some point, she stopped crying and her eyes had crystallized. She kept a furious look and a listless attitude, she spoke little and when she did, it was only an exchange of phrases that soon became aggressive, tense or both. It hurt Fred to see her like this.</p>
<p>“If we catch them, we'll force them to tell us what they did to all those people they took away,” Fred said, keeping his optimism, clinging to his own hope.</p>
<p>Lex scratched at her head, she just couldn’t get used to the new haircut, and then rubbed her eyes. “I don't think they can speak our language, though.”</p>
<p>“We managed to capture an audio of one of them, we don't know if they can only repeat what they hear, but the voice is saying clearly: I'm going to kill you.”</p>
<p>Lex laughed and shook her head. For her, the hope that Fred held was absurd. What was making him think that there were people still alive? “Fred, the possibility of finding those people is small. Those motherfuckers might just be hunting us.”</p>
<p>“I don't care, even if I have to tear off their limbs to make them talk, I will. They are going to confess. And I’ll be there to hear it.” Fred put his hands on the table, he no longer recognized Lex. She wasn’t the woman he had loved long ago.</p>
<p>“Carl just wants to capture a predator, he's not going to worry about getting people back. When he has what he wants, he's going to discard us, we're not a priority for him,” Lex said bluntly.</p>
<p>“What happened to you?” Fred looked at Lex, there was nothing left, not even the ashes of the brave explorer who used to fight to protect people.</p>
<p>The door opened again, but this time Carl Weyland entered, followed by scientist Sean Keyes, a military man named Cris Nolvak, and Hicks. Carl and Cris remained standing, while Sean and Hicks took their respective seats.</p>
<p>“Good morning, everyone” Carl greeted “I’m not going to extend this any longer, so I'll just get to the point.”</p>
<p>“Thank God...” Hicks whispered, having decided to sit next to Lex “New haircut?” he asked to Lex with a kind smile.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Lex answered, Fred frowned and rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>“This is Sergeant Cris Nolvak, he has something very important to tell you about the new mission,” Carl said, giving the word to the man.</p>
<p>Cris was a tall, over 6' man, blond and stocky, his blue eyes looked tired and serious. “Thirteen years ago, Major Alan Schaefer, whom we all called 'Dutch', faced a predator in the jungle of Val Verde. After winning, he dedicated the next thirteen years of his life to fight them, I worked with him for the first five years.”</p>
<p>“Wait a moment,” Hicks said, rubbing his chin and clearing his throat. “You mean those things have been coming to Earth often?”</p>
<p>“Yes, for a long time,” Cris said.</p>
<p>《Thousands of years, actually. 》Lex thought.</p>
<p>“So? What's with that?” Fred asked, he was only interested in two things: where to find them and how to kill them.</p>
<p>“What I want you to understand is that they know us, they see us as prey,” Cris explained. “My experience is not as great as Dutch's, but he taught me enough to plan an ambush and catch them. But I need all the knowledge you all can give me, because I’m sure about something, those predators that managed to catch him? They were very different from the ones Dutch used to face. They were bigger and stronger.”</p>
<p>“Alexa Woods, you mentioned the Bad Bloods at a past meeting,” Weyland recalled.</p>
<p>Lex sighed with defeat, this was her moment, she had to speak. “They caught Alan because those predators aren’t honorable hunters.”</p>
<p>“Honorable hunters?” Hicks questioned, this whole topic was completely strange to him.</p>
<p>“Bad Bloods set traps and play dirty. Honorable Hunters only attack those they consider to be a threat.” Lex confessed.</p>
<p>Cris smiled in satisfaction and walked over to Lex. “So you're Alexa Woods, the only person who has managed to talk to one of those monsters.”</p>
<p>“They're not monsters, their culture is just different from ours.” Lex felt all eyes on her of a sudden, silently judging her.</p>
<p>“The hunter of the city, that predator of Los Angeles, killed my father. It pierced him in the middle with a metal disc, and if that was made by an honorable hunter, God, I don't want to know what the Bad Bloods are capable of.” said Sean Keyes, who until that moment had remained silent next to Cris.</p>
<p>“So, their 'culture' consists of murdering, and for what?” Cris asked Lex, she stayed silent and then he continued “I’ll tell you why, they want to feel powerful. In those five years I worked with Dutch, I saw all kinds of predators and they were all bastards. You can't talk to them, they’re like animals.”</p>
<p>But Lex had done it. She had managed to talk to Scar, would it be possible to dialogue with the other Yautja? She knew the answer was a complete and blunt <em>No</em>. Scar was different, that was clear, but even <em>he</em> would continue to hunt and hunt humans just like his companions.</p>
<p>And that should be enough to accept the words of those men, but Lex felt the need to refuse, to go against them, because she loved Scar.</p>
<p>She loved him.</p>
<p>“I did,” Lex said firmly, “I spoke to him.”</p>
<p>“That doesn't change anything, they're still murderers.”  Sean said.</p>
<p>“I know, I don't understand a lot about them either, but I know they hate Bad Bloods just as much as we do, and they are also looking for them.” Lex just wanted Scar never to come back, she didn't want his life to be in danger.</p>
<p>But she also wanted to see him again.</p>
<p>“Then we must take advantage of the fact that they’re still here and capture them before the other predators do,” said Fred.</p>
<p>“The predator that we captured a few years ago had an unknown DNA to us. However with the STARGAZER project, it was possible to capture another predator with a DNA different from its <em>own</em> race.” Weyland said.</p>
<p>“Those Bad Bloods are predators that have modified their own DNA,” Sean realized.</p>
<p>“For that reason, they’re bigger and stronger than the other predators,” Cris concluded.</p>
<p>When the meeting ended, Lex was the last to leave the meeting room and Fred was already waiting for her right next to the door. She was startled when she saw him but her expression changed to one of annoyance quickly. She could already hear his words in her mind.</p>
<p>“Why do you seem to be on their side? We all realized that you defend those creatures, it’s too obvious.”</p>
<p>“I just said what I know, isn't that what you all wanted?”</p>
<p>Fred started walking.  “Just think it, you have to choose who you're with, you can't be friends with the enemy and these people know it.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>The Bad Bloods had taken Lake. When Scar arrived on his planet, it was almost impossible not to hear another topic. The predators were furious, anxious and preparing for a new hunt.</p>
<p>Amid all the fuss, he kept a cool head, tried not to turn his mind back to the past and focused on his training, fighting harder than before and spending his days with his weapons on the training court.</p>
<p>The last time his legs had given out due to the enormous physical effort he had inflicted on himself, it was before his maturity test, and now he was on the ground again.</p>
<p>But Scar didn't want to stop. Keeping busy kept him from thinking about Lex. All those conversations now looked blurry, like a distant memory that he would definitely bury. She was very clear, he was a monster.</p>
<p>He jumped to his feet and practiced his aim with his Smart-disc, extending the blades with a button and aiming at a few wooden circles, similar to archery targets.</p>
<p>He didn't understand why he felt so… sad? He looked at the other Yautja and they all seemed so normal, wrapped up in their own thoughts. Some had already chosen a mate and he knew that that only meant mating to achieve descendants.</p>
<p>And for humans, the meaning was much deeper. They chose a partner for life and emotions were closely linked at all times.</p>
<p>He held his spear tightly, he felt angry at himself, why was he so affected?</p>
<p>
  <em>“Listen to me, they not only took Lake, they also captured the remarkable M-di H'dlak, during a hunt. The other warriors returned, but she did not. They are kidnapping different oomans and Yautjas.”</em>
</p>
<p>Scar put aside his training, put on his bio-mask and activated his camouflage, his steps were stealthy and he remained hidden behind a column.</p>
<p>The soft voice belonged to an old human woman. She was the matriarch of the Notables colony, a representative to her own race among the matters that also involved the Yautja. Her eyes were large and black, with brown skin and long silver dreadlocks that hung down to her shoulders, adorned with various silver rings, she had a long brown leather gown and a choker made with several jade rings.</p>
<p><em>“That doesn't mean anything,”</em> Wolf snapped.</p>
<p>The elite of predators had detected a signal coming from a planet quite close to Yautja Prime and they firmly believed that the Bad Blood were there. The old Ooman, she was not so sure.</p>
<p><em>“It means everything.”</em> The woman kept a few meters of distance between her and the predator. Wolf looked massive next to her, the difference in height was unbelievable. <em>“Berserker’s clan didn’t injure the notable when they took her away, why would they go out of their way to hunt if not to claim the trophy? They took her unconscious, they shot something at her.”</em></p>
<p>Wolf grunted in response, he didn't believe the old woman's words at all, but he still relaxed his tone of voice and looked at her with respect. <em>“You have no proof. I won’t change the plans just to follow a simple guess.”</em></p>
<p>She raised her eyebrows, she was a woman of character and she wasn't intimidated by Wolf in the slightest. <em>“I'm sure Berserker is putting together a whole scenario. That’s why they only kidnap those they want and leave without fighting anymore, and the signal that you captured is nothing more than a false facade.”</em></p>
<p>Wolf roared but the old woman wasn’t intimidated. She was already used to the Yautja's reactions.</p>
<p><em>“I don't care about for your tantrums. You’ll have to accept what I say. All notables are in just as much danger as are the Yautja.” </em>The woman added.</p>
<p>Scar stared at the old woman, he wanted to pretend that he didn’t care for Lex and to just ignore the imminent truth, but he couldn’t fool himself. Lex belonged to the predator clan and was also a valuable trophy, who wouldn’t want to face a being able to leave victorious from the attack of a Queen?</p>
<p>And he felt responsible for Lex, he had marked her, after all. <em>《</em><em>That explains why they attacked her sister… it was Lex who they wanted.</em><em>》</em> He thought and suddenly felt anxious.</p>
<p><em>“If Wolf notices you're spying on him, he won't be too happy.”</em> A predator said to his back. It was Winter, an elite Yautja, who at 226 human years was the youngest of all of the elite.</p>
<p>He and Wolf would be leaving in a few days to hunt the Bad Bloods.</p>
<p><em>“Sorry.”</em> Scar deactivated his camouflage and turned to face the predator.</p>
<p>Winter crossed his arms over his chest, his face was covered in scars and Scar didn’t find it strange that even without the biomask on, he could see he was spying. Elite predators had that rank for reason: they were stealthy, deadly and their trained senses were very sharp.</p>
<p>In his youth, Winter had been rebellious and stubborn, but he had managed to survive until adulthood and now he was one of the best hunters. He thought that Scar was one of the most promising bleeding predators of his generation, and saw in him all the necessary qualities to become a part of the elite one day.</p>
<p>But he was still young.</p>
<p>And dumb.</p>
<p>
  <em>“I heard that you faced Berserker by yourself, is that true?”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“Yes.”</em> Scar detached the tubes connecting his biomask and the air hissed loudly, then he hooked the biomask onto his belt.</p>
<p><em>“I thought you weren't the type of Yautja to make stupid decisions.”</em>  Winter placed his hand on Scar's shoulder and gave him a friendly squeeze. <em>“Either way, I'm glad you survived.”</em></p>
<p><em>That</em> could be considered a real compliment. <em>“But Berserker is still free”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“You'll have your chance. Wolf wants to talk to you, don't ruin it.”</em>
</p>
<p>Winter left right after, Scar bowed slightly after the comment, he had the feeling that it wouldn’t be the last time they exchanged words.</p>
<p>He then returned to his weapons, he felt sorry that the predator had caught him spying on other people's conversations, but he thanked <em>Paya</em> that he wasn’t harsh with him. Winter had a lot in common with Scar, including the fact that the two were caught doing improper things.</p>
<p>Scar could enjoy his fame, he could forget about Earth and feel proud, but instead, he felt emptiness, as if something was missing. He regretted having put his eyes on a human, she hated him and he just kept wondering what had he done wrong.</p>
<p>All those thoughts left him as soon as he saw Wolf approaching and Winter's words hit him. ‘<em>Wolf wants to talk to you.’ </em>Was it possible that the predator found out about his visits to Lex?</p>
<p><em>“So you've decided to resume your training,” </em>said the predator.</p>
<p>Scar was relieved. <em>“I want to keep improving.”</em></p>
<p>That was the answer Wolf was hoping for. <em>“Winter and I are going to hunt the Bad Bloods and I want you to join us.”</em></p>
<p>Scar had faced a Bad Blood, which showed his courage, and therefore Wolf believed that he deserved the opportunity to go hunting with them so that the young predator could finally restore the honor that he had lost because of the chestbuster. Wolf was willing to place his trust in Scar even though he hadn't done any solo hunts yet.</p>
<p>Scar never expected to receive that proposal. <em>“So, have you tracked them yet?”</em></p>
<p>Wolf noticed something in Scar, he didn't really know what it was, but he noticed him strange, he had hoped to see him excited, not overwhelmed and distracted. <em>“Yes, we'll be leaving in a few days.”</em></p>
<p><em>“I’ve got something to tell you,”</em> Scar began, he had to drop the bomb now, he had no going back.</p>
<p><em>“What is it?”</em> Wolf looked at him expectantly.</p>
<p>Scar chose to accommodate the words according to his own experience, he kept thinking about the old Ooman and her suspicions. <em>“I saw Falconer and Tracker on Earth, I don't think they’ve already left. They’re still there.”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“Who assures it? We detected the signal from their ships very close to here.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“I think the signal may just be a red herring, to divert our attention.” </em>Scar knew his words would irritate Wolf.</p>
<p><em>“You’re assuring, without proof, that the signal captured by an elite group is false. Is that it?”</em> Said Wolf, Scar could feel the tension in the air, practically that was what he had said and Wolf couldn’t have expressed it better.</p>
<p><em>“I'm just saying, it's very rare that they were found so easily.”</em> Scar knew it sounded crazy, he had no proof, just like the old Ooman, he just knew he was right.</p>
<p><em>“That old woman has lost her mind, she’s guided by a lot of sentimentality and you, a Blooded Yautja, are so naive and say the same rubbish as her.” </em>Wolf's intention to take the young warrior with him vanished completely and the esteem he had for him had descended a couple of steps.</p>
<p><em>“If she's right, we’ll just waste time,”</em> said Scar, Wolf looked at him carefully, anyone else wouldn’t tolerate the intense gaze of the elite hunter, but Scar knew that if he looked away, he would be weak in front of him. <em>“And the woman I marked, therefore, is in danger. She’s part of our clan and is our duty-</em></p>
<p>Wolf roared angrily, Scar stopped his words. <em>“You had the gall to mark her with our clan symbol but it doesn't mean she belongs here.”</em></p>
<p>Scar exhaled and clenched his fists <em>“Then, the mark doesn't mean anything.”</em>  The irony and fury in his voice expressed his point of view very well. He had grown annoyed at the almost pedantic attitude of the elite warrior who treated him worse than a Yautja puppy.</p>
<p><em>“You better watch your mouth.”</em> That was the first and only warning that Wolf was willing to give Scar, a little more of his boldness and he would remind him why he was feared among the Yautjas themselves.</p>
<p><em>“Do you really think that finding the Bad Blood is so easy? Maybe they want us to think that they’re on that planet.”</em> Scar said.</p>
<p>
  <em>“You only want to return to Earth for that female ooman, you’re not interested in hunting.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“The hunt matters to me as much as it does to you, but if that signal turns out to be false, you must admit that you were a fool for not listening to me.”</em> said Scar, Wolf turned towards him, took him by the neck and raised him in a swift and violent movement, crashing him into one of the columns that supported the roof of the training area. The entire structure rocked with the impact.</p>
<p>It took Scar a couple of seconds to assimilate what had just happened. He activated the blades of his bracelets and walked to Wolf, who waited for another attack while brandishing the spear that until then, he had kept attached to his metal belt.</p>
<p>But Scar, he didn't attack.</p>
<p>Challenging Wolf was a bad idea and all his will and courage weren’t enough to cloud his common sense. As much as he wanted to tear the elite warrior to pieces, he would only end up humiliated. Wolf withdrew his spear. <em>“Maybe you should move to the Notables colony, you're almost one of them now.”</em></p>
<p><em>“Well, maybe I will.”</em> Scar growled back at him. Wolf turned back to him, he couldn't believe Scar's audacity. He looked at him with more surprise than anger.</p>
<p>
  <em>“I thought you deserved a chance, but you're still just a stupid Young Blood.”</em>
</p>
<p>Wolf left, for him, Scar had become a rebellious and wayward Yautja.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Scar had already expected that he wouldn’t be sent to Earth on his next hunt, but he hadn’t believed that he would be given the opportunity to hunt with the elite, an opportunity that had been ruined thanks to his argument with Wolf.</p>
<p>Now, he had no idea where they would send him. He looked up at the reddish sky as if he expected an answer that never came.</p>
<p>He was torn between what everyone thought was right and what he believed was right.</p>
<p>And then everything was clear.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Beta notes: Three things: 1. Fred, the Ultimate Simp; 2. Scar has a bad case of the foot-on-the-mouth-at-the-least-suitable-situations syndrome; and 3. Wolf is a Fool™.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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